Undercover
by Shadow the Ranger
Summary: Project Chimera was one of the many Hail Mary military funded projects commissioned to keep humanity alive by any means necessary, and when they grew arrogant in their project it was shut down. One of these test subjects is being tasked with infiltrating Project Freelancer after some worrying files and requests were found. the full summary is inside
1. Chapter 1: Reassignment

**Edit 5/9/2018:**

 **this is an update chapter 1, i had decided to update chapters 1-4 since i have a better grasp on the characters and where i want to take the story. so if you are a returning reader i want you guys to spot the difference, and if you are new i hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **full Summary**

 **Project Chimera was one of the many Hail Mary military projects commissioned to keep humanity alive by any means necessary during the Great War, and when they grew arrogant in their project, it was shut down. The former test subjects were acquired by ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) and sent off to the front lines to protect humanity from the Covenant. One of these test subjects is tasked with an undercover mission after some concerning files and requests are dug up.**

 **Infiltrate Project Freelancer.**

 **Now Astrid Lumisade will have to navigate through the toxic competitive Freelancers as Agent Alaska to complete her mission and root out the corruption buried deep in the project. In the meantime, there is someone that is far to similar to someone Astrid knows to be dead, as well as the older brother to one of her former ODST squad mates.**

 **Astrid can't shake the feeling that there is more to all of this than initial tip off. That there is something seriously wrong with Project Freelancer. And if anyone can find it, it's going to be her.**

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 **Chapter 1: Reassigned**

"What do you mean I'm being reassigned?!" screamed an irritated voice from the fully armored figure as they yelled into the screen in front of them.

The screen was not small but neither was it large as it sat on the desk of the Officer's assigned cabin. The desk made out of grey metal like the walls and floor of the entire ship, a lamp sat at its corner to add some needed light when the ceiling lights were shut off. The desk itself was neatly organized with everything in its place. Off to the corner of the room however was the bed, just standard pillow and sheets as the mattress sat on a platform that had drawers' underneath it, that held the meager belongings of the occupant. Not too far off were the occupant's private bathroom as well.

"It is as I said Captain, with the findings of the investigation of Project Chimera and the increasing similarities being observed in Project Freelancer as of late, you are being reassigned to find out any more information and to report back to your ONI handler." Said the man on the other end trying to be the voice of reason to the volatile individual.

The snarl that came next was not unexpected, this argument had been going on for the better part of five minutes. An officer from ONI had called personally after sending an official reassignment order, which had been a disaster waiting to happen. The reason for this explosive of a reaction is because one of the Projects that the UNSC had approved of did not want to focus its resources in sending people to the frontline fighting the Covenant. Instead they wanted to focus everything on still fighting the Insurrectionists.

"That's no excuse! How can I leave the frontlines when there are millions being slaughtered every hour of every day?!"

The officer had thought it best to give the Captain a call to further explain why they had to leave the frontlines, but what they had thought would be and easy explanation quickly turned into the other ripping into them. Finally fed up with the others attitude the officer on the other end finally ran out of patience.

"These are your orders Captain!" the sudden bark shut the Captain up with an audible click from their teeth as the other continued to speak, "With your entire team killed in your latest mission you are left free, as far as the higher ups are concerned, to accept this mission! And with the findings of the corruption and gross disregard of life of both the staff and subjects of Project Chimera, the UNSC has decided that you will infiltrate Project Freelancer in order to either gather enough intelligence that it is going down the same path as Project Chimera or prove that the rumors were false and that there were just that, rumors."

The silence after that statement was suffocating as the Captain ruminated on the memory of losing her entire squad on a planet that had just gotten glassed not too long ago, just two days prior in fact. Seeing the expression and the somberness of the Captain on the other end of the call the ONI officer continued in a softer tone to bring the Captain back from her declining thoughts.

"I understand why you would like to remain on the front, truly I do. I have a cousin who had recently died there, but with this you could help keep the UNSC avoid imploding on itself even further. With the Insurrectionists still causing trouble along with the Covenant committing genocide we need to keep it together as much as possible. You understand that don't you Captain Lumisade?"

The statement wasn't even a question it was more of a placating statement to get the young Captain to calm down. The way the ONI handler had responded to the irate Captain seemed like they had dealt with this sort of behavior before.

The Captain sighed tiredly as she reached up to remove her ODST helmet revealing a feline head, small rounded fluffy ears pressed back against her skull in sadness. A gloved paw reached up to rub her tired eyes. The white furred face relaxed and had an air of resolve, icy blue eyes looked up to the ONI officer with a look of resignation.

"Yeah, I know, I know. It's just after all I've been through. After all I have done both in the project and on the front, I just want to do what's right. I just want people to not suffer this endless war anymore, hell I don't even know when the fighting is going to end."

A moment of silence passed before the Captain continued missing the brief instance of satisfaction from her handler.

"If I do find evidence of the Project being corrupt, what will happen to those that had no idea? I know the UNSC decided that myself and my family were better use on the field than dead, but I can't help but wonder what would happen to those that had no idea."

The ONI officer took on a pensive look as they contemplated what they were going to say next, so as not to set the Captain off on another tirade. But they also wanted to steer the traumatized Captain in the "right" direction, they had to think about their second job as well after all.

"To be honest I do not know, but chances are they would get off mildly depending on what they were made to do. If they were only following orders and had no inkling of what went on behind the scenes then they would probably get a few years depending on the situation. But from the preliminary findings, it's not looking good in her favor. But I'm sure that if they don't deserve the verdict given I guess you could put your two cents in."

The young Captain was silent as she contemplated what her handler was saying. It sounded like something that one would say to make someone think on the bright side. However, with something like these preliminary findings she doubts that the judge and council will be understanding of their situation. Even if they were just following orders. However, that was not her place to decide because her mission is only to infiltrate them and gather information and report back.

And at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the mission, everything else comes second.

"Yeah. When do I ship out?" questioned the young Captain.

"Five days, doctor's orders. Don't want you to be unable to perform on your first day of school, now would we?" came the snarky remark.

The Captain chuckled and ended the call but sighed when the call ended. She did not want to leave for this mission so soon but she had no choice. Not feeling up to sleeping covered in dirt, blood, sweat, and grime the feline like Captain set her helmet on the desk and went to strip and set her armor and under suit off to the side so they can get ready for a much-needed shower. They turned on the water to moderately warm, cold was a better description of it though, because they do not have the luxury of a hot shower. An option that she had not had in a very, very long time. But as they stood under the spray feeling it as it soaked her spotted white snow leopard fur and tail. It felt like heaven compared to spending weeks planet side covered in the blood of both her allies and enemies.

She did not spend much time in the shower, only a few minutes to lather rinse and done because they had a limited water supply that needed to be conserved. After her shower she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed. However, sleep did not come easy for her, the memories of the battlefield still playing over and over again like some horror movie. The sights, sounds, and feeling still very fresh in the tired Captains mind.

This went on for a few hours, remembering the fallen, past friends, and ultimately the ODST team that had become a part of her family. They had accepted her when she had been forced upon them because of the fallout from Project Chimera. Finally, they were able to lay her eyes to some much-needed sleep, restless sleep but sleep nonetheless.

 _The current objective was make sure the civilians make it off planet from evacuation, after that it was make their way to a camp and set up shop. Those were their orders before their insertion to the raging battle below. The Covies had come in hard and fast catching the UNSC and Colony Militia off guard and as always, the first order of business before going all out in trying to drive off Covenant forces was to get the civilians out of the way._

 _Her team was not the first to be deployed, in fact they were among the tail end to help get the civilians evacuated._

" _You ready Sis?" asked the armored man next to Lumisade._

 _Lumisade smirked, "What in the hell kind of question is that Sunshine? Of course, I'm fucking ready."_

" _Just making sure you weren't getting cold paws now." chuckled Sunshine._

 _Lumisade shook her head as they entered their drop pods for insertion. The drop was like any other as they impacted the earth and their Captain had them sound off to make sure everyone made it. Like in previous missions they all survived their drops and got to work on their tasks. They were paired up in teams of two with different jobs, the Heavy's took care of vehicles, snipers provided excellent sight and cover, and Sunshine Lumisade took care of the civilians._

 _Lumisade was helping a little girl get in the Pelican but the child was screaming about her stuffed animal being left behind. Turning around Lumisade scanned the ground and spotted the stuffed tiger and not even thinking about it went to grab it. But she didn't notice the blue sticky grenade coming her way._

" _ASTRID!" screamed Sunshine as he shoved her away from the explosive._

 _It stuck to his abdomen._

 _Astrid looked back at Sunshine in horror as it explodes._

" _SUNSHINE!"_

Astrid woke with a start sweating and panting. _It was just a dream, just a dream._ Thought Astrid as she curled into a ball and calmed herself down from the memory.

The next five days past in a blur of monotony, get up, shower, breakfast, infirmary for checkup, light workout, lunch, rest, dinner, try to sleep, rinse repeat. During the days left before her assigned Pelican arrived the few soldiers that made it off that planet came up to them to see if they were alright. As with the past few days however everything seemed to have been wrapped in a blanket of unfeeling haze. Sometimes it was like her senses have been dulled to the point that it seemed like they could hardly hear or feel anything and just went through the motions of day to day life on the vessel.

As they went back each day to get an update from the med staff the dying and injured littered the rooms of the infirmary. Soldiers in various states of dying. Some were on the mend, but many others were going to die from her injuries. It was a sight that had not been uncommon since the beginning of the Human-Covenant War, and an all too common sight for the young Captain. They had seen such sights in Project Chimera as the scientists involved did not give two shits about the children they considered little more than lab rats. That were easily replaced and were of little use than to further her own research and twisted curiosity. She and her siblings were not human in the eyes of those despicable people, if they could even be called that.

As the Captain headed to her appointment she walked passed people that had asked them to just end their suffering, that they just wanted the pain to stop or so they could see her friends and family again. Others though just didn't see the point in caring anymore and just lay there, but there were a few that just wanted to get better so that way they can head back out to the battlefield so they can take as many Covies as they could down with them.

"I'm here for my follow up." Astrid said to a frazzled nurse.

"Name, rank, and number."

"Astrid Lumisade, Captain, designation Charlie-006"

The nurse looked up from her terminal, "Got you right here, Dr. Peterson is waiting for you."

Not even giving her thanks Astrid went to the examination room she was directed to.

"Ah, Captain there you are. I was wondering if I had to force you to come in." said Dr. Peterson.

The man was old, the wrinkles on his face even more pronounced from the stress of dealing with the soldiers that managed to survive the colonies assault. His hair even greyer from the last time that Astrid had seen the man.

Astrid shook her head, "You know I wouldn't do that to you Doc, even when Sun-."

Astrid caught herself before she could finish his name. the doctor looked up from his notes he was taking from Astrid's exam.

"You really should see one of the shipboard psychologists Astrid."

She shook her head, "Can't. ONI just gave me a new mission last night and wants me mission ready within the week for when I ship out."

The old doctor narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips.

"Why can't they just let you rest and recover like any other soldier, or I don't know let you fucking retire. You've been through enough and have done enough for humanity to at least let you do that."

"They would if I was fucking human."

"Well based on this exam your fine, if a bit exhausted, but otherwise fit for combat. I want you to come back though until you leave so I can be sure."

"Thanks Doc." Said Astrid as she got ready to leave.

As she opened the door Dr. Peterson said something, "And for the record Astrid, your just as human as the rest of us."

Astrid didn't say anything as she left. The doctors statement was nice but unfortunately, she was just another military asset in the eyes of ONI and was to be used as such.

This routine that the Captain had been following for the past week gave her a sense of down time. No missions to report for, no running around on the field to avoid grenades or being shot at. It was oddly calming to someone who had spent the majority of their life on the battlefield. But as always, the relative peace did not last very long because next thing that is happening is that her ride is there in the hangar.

The shake up to the temporary monotony came in the form of packing up her meager belongings and heading down to the hangar to wait for her transport to her next assignment, the Mother of Invention. There waiting in the bustling hangar was a Pelican and its pilot leaning against its side. Sighing to herself the Captain made sure that her helmet was secured, her tail swished slightly in nervousness as she made her way to the pilot.

"You Captain Lumisade?" asked the pilot as the Captain approached the Pelican.

Lumisade nodded as she walked up to the pilot of the Pelican, the pilot held out her hand in greeting. Not wanting to have any sort of pleasantries at this moment Lumisade was not keen on shaking her hand. However, if she were not to shake hands then that could be a slight tip off, so she would just have to grin and bear it. For now, anyway.

"I'm 479er, and I'll be your escort today."

Lumisade shook the others hand as her tail swished lightly behind her and headed into the Pelican to get themselves settled as 479er went through the preflight checks and soon enough they were on her way. To 479er's credit they did not react to Lumisade's ears or tail but with the pleasantries out of the way and 479er in the cockpit they were on their way. Since they would not get to the Mother of Invention for quite some time Lumisade decided to take a short nap if she could. Seeing as she was barely able to sleep the night before.

With Captain Lumisade heading towards her next assignment with the Project Freelancer pilot and even the Director unaware of her mission. Her mission to infiltrate Project Freelancer to see and report back if anything is amiss. With no one none the wiser.

 **Late 2547**

 **Random part of space**

 **Mother of Invention**

 **Mess Hall**

The mess hall itself is not that large, or at least the Agents at the top of the Leader Board's mess hall. For some reason the Director felt the need to separate the personnel and Agents. Then separate the Agents even further with having the Leader Board and having different mess halls. It was also a disputed fact that the top Agents also got better food than the others, but since on one on the Leader Board ever speaks about it, it stays as a rumor to those that can only dream of being on the Leader Board.

The three of the Agents that are at the top of the Leader Board were gathered around one table in the mess hall gossiping about the goings on aboard the ship. Mostly it was either about training schedules, upcoming missions, who they thought was being a complete bitch that week, and so on.

The liveliest of the group though consisted of North Dakota, who wore purple armor with green accents, York, wearing gold armor with silver accents, and Washington who wore steel grey armor with yellow trim.

"So, I heard a rumor the other day." Stated York.

"Yeah? What was it?" asked North Dakota

"Apparently were getting a new recruit."

"But I thought with the recent recruit in you know." said Washington as he discreetly gestured towards Texas who was standing in the corner of the mess hall away from everyone else.

"That's what I thought to, but apparently they don't care and hired a new recruit." Replied York.

"Huh, any idea when their arriving?"

"If I remember hearing right their supposed to arrive today. 479er left to pick them up I think."

Before someone could say anything, else there was a commotion of personnel in the hallway that seemed to be heading toward the training room. Curiosity won over staying and chatting and the others decided to see what all the fuss was about. Texas on the other hand snuck away from the others to keep to herself a little longer while observing from afar like she has been doing.

York grabbed someone by their arm as they bumped into him, "Hey, what's going on? Whys everyone in such a rush?"

"New recruit! The Director has them up against Carolina, South, and Connecticut!"

The shock that ran through York caused him to let go of the random personnel as the released man ran down the hall to go watch the show.

"Are they doing what they did to Tex? Pitting the new guy against three Agents on the Leader Board?" asked Washington.

"It seems that way, come on let's go see." Replied North as he took off in a sprint making his way down to the training room's viewing area, York and Washington not far behind him.


	2. Chapter 2: Rankings

**Edit 5/9/2018:**

 **this is an update chapter 1, i had decided to update chapters 1-4 since i have a better grasp on the characters and where i want to take the story. so if you are a returning reader i want you guys to spot the difference, and if you are new i hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Rankings**

York, North Dakota, and Washington bolted down the winding hallways of Project Freelancer's _Mother of Invention_. As they made their way to the observation deck above the training room the three Agent's noticed that they were the last to arrive. The other top Leaderboarder's were already there along with the Counselor and even the Director. Not even looking away from the round taking place in front of him the Director responded to their arrival.

The Training Room itself is a large circular room that F.I.L.S.S. can manipulate to fit the needs of those in it, or the Director. But there is only so much that can be done with its holograms, so not a full holographic immersion into different environments.

"Nice of you to finally show up Agents North Dakota, York, and Washington." Came the scathing remark of the Director.

"Sorry Sir, but we didn't know that we had a new recruit." Replied North Dakota.

The apology however did not seem to be heard by the Director, instead it seemed as if he ignored it and focused on the Training Room floor. The Director seemed to be focusing too hard on the new guy, but it also seemed as if he didn't want them here in the first place. The look that he was shooting the figure fighting three against one it was almost like he wanted them dead or something. Since there was nothing else for them to do Washington, York, and North Dakota however made their way to the other Freelancers that they work with. A few made a silent acknowledgement while others vocalized it.

"So, what did we miss?" asked Washington.

"Not much, newbie down their arrived not even an hour ago and the Director immediately picked those three," said Wyoming as he gestured to the smaller more agile form that expertly dodged the pugil sticks and hit the three Freelancers that they were pit against, "didn't even get time to settle into their quarters before the Director started this. Their duffel bag is still over there, see?"

Wyoming said as he pointed at the lone duffel bag in the corner of the observation deck. The fact that the Director did not allow the newbie to at least put their stuff in their room seemed odd to Washington.

"Why wouldn't he let them settle first?" asked Washington out of curiosity.

Wyoming shrugged, "Don't know but I thought I heard someone mention that ONI had forced them on the Director with no warning or something. Just said that they were part of the program now, the Director was not happy."

"What do you think that means then? If ONI is starting to get involved." Asked Washington quietly trying to grasp the possible meaning behind this.

It was said under his breath but York still heard it.

"I don't know Wash, but it doesn't sound good, better keep our eyes and ears open around here from now on though, I've got a bad feeling brewing." Came the soft reply so as not to make the Director catch on to their conversation.

With that it was silent for a little bit as they watched the new guy absolutely wipe the floor with South Dakota, Connecticut, and Carolina. The newbie was smaller than the three women but that seemed to be to their advantage, and they seemed to have a modified ODST helmet with what looked to be cat ears on it. Not to mention the honest to God large fluffy tail that had helped them keep their balance when it looked like they were going to go down from a particularly strong blow or coordinated attack from the three senior Freelancers.

"Man, he's just kicking their asses." Wash said with awe in his voice.

North Dakota chuckled, "Don't let Carolina and South hear you say that Wash. You might not like the result."

Underneath his helmet Wash went red and started sputtering, "That's not, I mean, um…uhh their doing good to."

Wash's sputtering caused the other Freelancers on deck to start chuckling at Wash's expense and focused more on the match as the timer was about to end. Just as F.I.L.S.S called Round One over the newbie sent Carolina to the ground, hard.

" _Round 1 over, point awarded to Alaska."_

The other Freelancers on deck hissed collectively, "Ohh, she is not going to be happy when this is done." Commented York.

"No, kidding. If we thought her losing the top spot to Texas was bad enough having it happen twice in a row, by a newbie no less, is not going to improve her mood." Replied North Dakota.

With the slight reprieve over and the pugil sticks sent back to storage F.I.L.S.S. called for Round Two to start,

" _Round 2, hand to hand combat, begins in 5…4…3…2…1…start!_ "

"I can already tell that Carolina is not going to be a happy camper when this is over." Said York.

The second round was hand to hand combat and with the three women getting soundly beaten in the first-round strategy was thrown out the window by South and Connecticut. Only Carolina had some semblance of strategy sat back and waited for an opportunity to strike arise. While the others just ran at the smaller combatant thinking that with their superior height and strength will get them a win. But in doing so played right into their opponents' hands as they got kicked in the chest and punched in the stomach and tossed to the ground.

"Yeah, I'm gonna avoid her after this." Commented Wash as he watched the three Freelancers get their asses handed to them by the new guy.

"Probably a good idea buddy." Said North.

York just sighed, "I am so not looking forward to after this."

With the new guy dealing with South and Connecticut they were left unaware of Carolinas movements, and were briefly caught off guard by Carolina coming from the behind kicking her in the back. That move cost them some by making them stumble and being hit by all three. But before anymore damage could be done from the three punches they were able to get in they were able to recover enough to get back on the offensive. What followed next was a quick succession of blocks, punches, and kicks and combos that came flying at all three of them as they lost their advantage over their smaller target.

The tailed opponent hit them fast and hard not focusing on any one opponent for an extended period of time. This way they are able to spread their attacks evenly among the three they were fighting, but some of the movements didn't make sense. There were fake outs sure but it looked like they wanted to use a weapon to make some of the blows or maybe, looking more closely, a specific attack using their hands. But nothing came from reaching for it, it was almost like they had forgotten that it was gone for the round. However, from their vantage point and distance it was to hard to tell exactly what the new guy was trying to do.

"Is it just me, or does it look like their trying to reach for something." Asked Wash.

"Huh, didn't even notice that. Good eye Wash."

"Thanks North!"

"It looks like they want to reach for a knife or something." Came the reply from York.

"Yeah, that's plausible. Could be that they forgot it wasn't there and it cost them valuable response time." Noted North as they continued to watch the fight.

Both Wyoming and Maine had been quiet since the beginning, probably observing the new guy's skills and to see if they would be a threat. Also it could be that they were just happy and content to watch two of the most volatile Freelancers get their collective asses handed to them.

Soon enough the second round finished, with the point yet again awarded to the Alaska. The small reprieve was used for F.I.L.S.S. changing the room to fit the armor lockdown round. Both sides headed to their specified tables to grab their paintballs and paintball guns for this round. Compared to the previous rounds the third was always the longest because it simulated a real mission to some extent. With their paintballs loaded it was time to begin.

"Did you remembah to give them live ammunition Counselor?" asked the Director breaking the silence that he had maintained throughout the fight so far.

"Yes, sir." The Counselor responded dutifully as he looked down briefly at his datapad.

"Good."

This exchange of words went mostly unnoticed by the others in the room because they were to fixated on what might happen during this round as well. The only one to pick up on the quiet conversation was North as he frowned at the admittance the Director just gave. He held his tongue however, because now was not the time to say anything about it. North had a feeling though that Wash will speak up once the round starts though.

" _Round 3 begins in 5…4…3…2…1 start."_

The following rounds followed almost exactly like when Texas was down there squaring off against Maine, York, and Wyoming. Except while it wasn't until Round 9 that Maine and Wyoming were given live ammo, Carolina, South, and Connecticut were given it right off the bat. It made the Training Room floor seem like a fire fight that the Freelancers had encountered numerous times out in the field.

"Woah! Their using live ammo?! That's against protocol, Director you nee- "Wash tried to stop it but was cut off by the Director.

Wash was trying to stop this before someone got hurt like the last time something like this happened with Agent Texas. York, meanwhile, winced slightly remembering the pain he felt that day when he lost his eye because of something the Director did like this. However, the Director was not having it, and quickly shut down the protest.

"Silence Agent Washington! Ah gave them the order to use live ammunition."

"But why?!" screamed Wash in confusion as the chaos down below still raged on.

Training was supposed to be just that, training. A way to improve and learn new skills in a safe environment, sure there were training accidents and injuries. But to use actual live ammo and things that could kill someone during training, that's just not right. It may have happened with Texas when she was facing Wyoming, Maine, and York but Wash thought that was an accident.

The new guy ran and dodged like an expert using the obstacles as cover and places to jump from. They looked like a stalking predator at times when they stalked to tops of the pillars silently either crouched or on all fours. Watching their prey below and behind as they continued to pelt their opponents with armor-locking paint. Alaska seemed to think that it was business as usual it seemed and treated it accordingly, except they couldn't kill their opponents in this situation.

"Do you think, Agent Washington, that the enemy will use training equipment?"

"N- "

"No, they will not! So it is imperative that training mimic a live combat situation as much as possible!"

The rebuke silenced anymore attempts at trying to tell the Director to stop the training from the other Freelancers in the observation deck. They all shared a look with each other that went unnoticed by both the Counselor and the Director because they were both to focused on the fight going on below them. For the second time they are seeing this sort of behavior regarding training from the Director that has to do with training.

Suddenly C.T.s warnings that the Director was always like this made sense, and not just idle warnings of some overly paranoid soldier. Wyoming and Maine seemed to ignore it, but for North, York, and Wash? They kept silent, but they were going to have a chat about this later, hopefully with Alaska as well.

The rounds that followed were quietly observed in the observation deck but down on the floor round after round, even with live ammo, Carolina, C.T., and South were beaten. Bullets missed and grazed their target sure but it was always a resounding defeat. As the 7th round began the tables turned for the worst as they brought out grenades next. The result being that the new guy was able to dodge and lock their armor while taking cover from the blast.

The Director grimaced and turned to walk out of the room as he heard F.I.L.S.S. announce another defeat and the call to another round.

" _Round 7 over, point awarded to Alaska, Round 8-"_

This was not how he had expected the probable ONI plant to handle themselves with his top Freelancers. But it was something he could work with at the very least.

"That's enough F.I.L.S.S., update the Leaderboard."

The Director's voice carried out from the intercoms to the Training Room the obstacles moved back to underneath the floor, Carolina, South, and C.T. still locked in armor.

" _Yes, Director. Updating Leaderboard."_

The Leaderboard showed up on the screen containing the scores for the rounds, the current board showed 1st- 8th. Everyone below Texas got moved down a slot as the name Alaska took Carolina's in 2nd, sending Carolina down to third. There was a muffled scream heard in the observation deck that sounded vaguely like,

"What the fuck!"

Up in the observation deck however, the other Freelancer's winced at what this meant for them in the near future.

"Oh man, she is not happy." Whimpered Wash.

"No shit sherlock." Replied York.

The others were silent though as they absorbed the situation, and North was making up ways on how to handle his sister's anger. South did not take to kindly to being bested on a good day but to be bested on a newbies first day will put her in an already foul mood. That was something that North was not looking forward to at the moment, however, he was the only one right now to keep her in check. York was going to have his hands full with Carolina as well though. Although, he will probably give her some space to calm down on her own.

It was only a few minutes later and the new guy, Alaska, had made their way up to the observation deck and grabbed their stuff from the corner of the room. No one had said anything yet because they didn't want to upset the already volatile Director that was standing back straight and glaring at Alaska. To Wash their armor didn't look anything special from the standard ODST armor but there are two cat ear protrusions to the helmet that were either for aesthetic, or given the tail that has been swishing behind them, functional. The Director glared at Alaska a little longer before telling the Counselor to show them to their quarters.

With her bag slung over their shoulder they followed the Counselor out, and just as they left in came Carolina, C.T., and South. Even with her helmet on you could just tell that the rage was burning off of Carolina as her head followed Alaska. Before anyone else could say anything else though, the Director left as well leaving the Freelancers to themselves.

"THIS IS BULLSHIT!" screamed Carolina as she stormed into the room.

"Now Carolina, ca-" York didn't even get to finish his sentence when Carolina rounded on him.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down York! This has happened twice now! Twice! Some nobody just shows up out of the blue and sends me down a slot!"

York just sighed and left the room, he did not want to deal with this right now. York may love Carolina but with the way she is right now, its best just to let her stew and take her frustration out on the training room floor. The others followed York's lead and left the volatile woman to her own devices.

 _ **Mother of Invention**_

 **Freelancer Quarters**

 **Late 2547**

The Counselor did not bother giving her a tour of where they were going or the other facilities that she was privy to as an Agent. The man was like a robot with a dumb A.I. and only showed her the way to her quarters where she would be staying. Not to mention the man had also mentioned that she was going to have to share with a roommate as well. It was not like Astrid didn't like sharing living spaces, having done so with her former squad for years. But it was the fact that now she had to go out of her way to write up her reports and her notes on the project.

That was something that Astrid was not looking forward to at all. This will make her mission all the more harder because she has to tip toe around her roommate.

However, from what she has seen of the frigate so far is that it has a similar look to the old one where she was stationed before. But the atmosphere of the place is completely different from her previous station. The frigate that Captain Astrid Lumisade was stationed on before her reassignment was like the _Mother of Invention_ because for one it's a standard issue UNSC frigate. But, since Project Freelancer is a government funded program it is also a science vessel. Which made sense, what didn't make sense was her roommate. Honestly Lumisade did not think the Director was going to be this obvious in trying to keep tabs on her.

The Counselor had left as soon as they had reached her door, said something about important work that needs to be done. Astrid didn't say anything as she entered her new quarters to find herself face to face with her new roommate. Joy. She was already going to have to deal with this person, Astrid had been hoping to put this off for a little while longer. However, it seemed the Universe had different ideas.

Astrid tossed her duffel bag on her bed, top bunk, and not even touched because there was a black armored figure standing in the corner staring down the former ODST. Both of them were silent as they stared at one another trying to gauge the other. Both trying to size the other up to see how they responded to an unknown in an intimate place.

"Are you going to say anything? Like say your name?" Captain Lumisade finally asked trying to break the tension and to toe the line to see if her cover was blown already.

"What about you?"

 _Huh, woman then. Makes sense I guess._ Thought Astrid.

"I asked first" responded Astrid.

"Texas."

"There see, was that so hard?"

Texas was silent for a moment before asking her next question.

"Why are you here?"


	3. Chapter 3: Confrontations

**Edit 5/9/2018:**

 **this is an update chapter 1, i had decided to update chapters 1-4 since i have a better grasp on the characters and where i want to take the story. so if you are a returning reader i want you guys to spot the difference, and if you are new i hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Confrontations**

"Why are you here?" repeated Texas, this time with a little more force.

Not feeling up to answering the lethal woman at the moment Astrid decided to mess around with her for a little bit. If only to try and gather her thoughts so she doesn't say the wrong thing and to make sure she is not having an auditory hallucination. Because that voice is so, _so_ familiar that it hurt so much. She wanted it so much to be only an auditory hallucination.

"Heh, it's one of life's mysteries isn't it?"

Not up for the roundabout questions and answer Texas' voice hardened even more.

"That is not what I meant. Now answer the question, truthfully or I might just out you right now as a spy. The Director is already suspicious of the reason why you're here and why ONI felt the need to get involved, might as well confirm it for him."

Hearing Texas respond confirmed that she was not hearing things but knowing that the original owner of the voice was dead and gone for a long time made it hurt even more. And it also gave Astrid a new reason for accepting this mission, but it also gave her more questions as to what is actually going on in Project Freelancer.

She sighed in frustration and answered Texas hiding her pain and recognition of her voice from the inquirer.

"I'm not going to be able to avoid this am I?" asked Astrid.

"No."

Letting out a resigned sigh she was going to have to bite the bullet and hope that this person is trustworthy. She didn't really have a choice in the matter anyway so it was either not say anything and get exposed or tell her and hope she doesn't get exposed of taken advantage of.

"Fine, ONI sent me because they got some questionable intel about this project. So, with my experience from something similar ONI thought I was the best candidate to do this mission. Besides, looking at my intel with a clear head I don't want those that have no idea to what's going on to take the fall if I can prevent that. But that decision is not up to me and I can only help persuade those that do decide that sort of thing."

Texas did not answer right away and took on a contemplative stance as she processed the information given to her. Astrid just stood there waiting for the others verdict on whether or not she should blow her cover or not. Texas had never trusted the Director not with how he had and has been treating Alpha, especially lately. Not to mention the fact that he had Freelancers steal information from Charon Industries about something called the Sarcophagus, that just wreaked of bad intentions and dark days to come.

"Fine, but just so you know we have different agendas that happen to coincide. I will help as much as I can but don't forget that, when it comes to your other objectives you're on your own."

"That's fair, to be honest after reading the preliminary information I kind of felt obligated to accept the mission anyway. Even if I didn't have much of a choice in the first place. The whole thing reminds me too much of something that I have already gone through and well, I don't want something like this to happen to anyone else. Though time will tell if I am able to stop it or not but I at least have to try."

"How old are you anyway? You sound, young."

"22."

"Humph, to be honest I was never going to report you to the Director. I was the one to send the anonymous tips that there was something sketchy happening. I just wasn't expecting them to send a baby to do the job," she sighed, "but I suppose that beggars can't be choosers so looks like were stuck together on this one. At the very least partially."

It was silent for a minute before she asked something else.

"You said that you had a similar experience the what might be starting to happen her. What did you mean by that?"

"Project Chimera."

Short sweet and to the point, Astrid really did not want to go into depth on the subject right now and kept her reply clipped and her tone sharp. The memories though old never faded from her mind, even with the help and support of her ODST family. Astrid was never able to find out what happened to her other siblings after the collapse of Project Chimera. They had all been separated after ONI got a hold on them and disbanded their teams. Texas, left her alone after that getting the hint that she did not want to talk about that.

With her peace said and support given Texas left Alaska to put herself to put her things away. Being left alone in their shared room finally gave Astrid some time to relax for at least a little while. It was nerve wracking trying be all stoic and silent throughout the entire exchange with the Counselor and the Director. Both were pros when it came to reading people and their minute changes to information and speaking to someone. Not to mention trying to keep her cool when talking to Agent Texas because of her body language and voice.

It was times like these that she was glad that Project Chimera had put her into its Stealth and Recon Program. They had given her the necessary tools and skills to be able to do this sort of thing, not to mention how she had perfected them as the years passed, and her experience increased. One of the skills they had drilled into her was keeping her cool in any situation, and to keep her emotions in check. Especially with her ears and tail that practically broadcasting her moods.

That's what they had made her for in the first place, a natural at stealth and assassination and just as deadly as the animal that they spliced into her DNA. To capitalize on the natural instincts and strengths of a stealth predator of the mountains.

Bile rose in her throat as she dwelled on the memories in that accursed project. They may have given her these skills, but they also made her into this freak of nature. She should not exist, a hybrid of human and animal DNA. The fact that she can look relatively human despite the tail and ears at will was nice but Astrid would prefer to be all human if the option was present. Or even to just be completely human, she didn't even know if she had ever been human to begin with.

As these depressing thoughts permeated Astrid's head she was unpacking her duffel bag. Going from Project Chimera to active military service did not allow one to have many personal effects if any in some of her siblings' cases. In her duffel bag were of course her change of clothes, PT clothes, PJs, toiletries of course, her signature knives, her collapsible military issued tablet, and some physical photos of some of her old friends from Project Chimera and her old ODST squad.

At the bottom of the bag however, was a stuffed animal. The only one she has ever owned and one of her most prized possessions. It was a plushie of a dragon from an old franchise in the 2010s that had gotten rebooted again around the time Project Chimera started. It was all black with large green eyes, with bat like wings, and one of its tail fins was red.

According to the person who had given it to her the dragon was made for stealth and was vicious to its enemies but was soft and kind to its friends. This plush toy had been with Astrid since she was three and it was a miracle that it has made it this far relatively undamaged. Astrid hid both of her photos and her tablet under her pillow and the stuffed toy nestled in the corner of her bunk. She climbed down to put her clothes away in the dresser that was designated as hers by the nameplate, Alaska, and on top of that was her basic toiletries along with her knives.

Finally done with putting things away Astrid walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her reflection showed her decked out in her armor looking at all of the dings and scratches that had, overtime, been acquired all over her armor. She removed her helmet to look at her furred and feline like face with her old teammates dog tags around her neck. Honestly, she looked like a goddamned furry when she looked like this. Her normally vibrant full of life and mischievous gaze had adopted a sort of glaze over the past week from the death of her family. She had not been given time to grieve properly and probably will not for while given the nature of her situation.

It took some will power but she was able to make herself look relatively human, save for the ears and tail. The transformation hurt like a bitch because it was muscle, bone structures, nerves, everything that changed to make her look human. Her fur receded and grew into white long hair, paws morphed and changed into hands, feline like paws turned to feet. Her teeth went from razor sharp to omnivorous with slightly bigger canines, her feline muzzle receded to a human mouth and nose, and finally vestigial human like ears. Her eyes stayed the same however, like her ears and tail, forever feline and tied her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her face.

Astrid left the bathroom and looked at the holographic digital clock on her dresser, 6:37 PM, dinner would be underway right now. With her appearance changed she put her helmet back on and made her way into the hallway. Although, she had no idea where the mess hall was on this ship yet, but before she could contemplate anything further something made its way into her implants.

 _Now to get some food. So where in the hell is the mess hall?_ Thought Astrid as she stood in the hallway.

" _Hey, you need any help? Your kinda standing in the hallway looking like an idiot."_

The unexpected visitor and voice startled Astrid as she jumped about a foot in the air, the fur on her tail bristled in fright. The feeling of an A.I. in her implants was a feeling she has not had for many years, not since the end of Project Chimera. The feeling was like greeting an old friend after so long, especially with the playful buzz that this A.I. was giving off in her skull. It felt, nice.

" _Hahahaha!"_

The laughter of the newcomer was alight with mischief and fun something that Astrid had been missing in her life for the past week.

" _Oh man, sorry about that. It's just you were standing there confused and I kind of looked at your file and noticed that you had implants soooo."_ The voice trailed off.

Astrid calmed down enough to be able to respond to the not so unwelcome intruder.

"Who are you? And what do you mean you looked into my file?"

" _The names Alpha, and since you were new I wanted to get a bit of info on you so a little bit of hacking here or there later I know who you are. Don't worry I won't tell the Director, the guys kind of a dick anyway. What's your name?"_

"I would have thought you knew that, given the fact that you just said you looked at my file."

" _Well, I mean if you don't want me to do the polite thing and ask like a normal person."_

"Astrid. My names Astrid, nice to meet you Alpha."

" _Of course, its nice to meet me, I'm awesome! So, do you want help or not?"_

A chuckle left Astrid at Alpha's response and description of the Director. Honestly, that was the same feeling she got from the man as well when she met him.

"Then I bet you know where the mess hall is don't you. If you don't mind helping me out."

" _Yep, just head down this hall take two rights and a left and you will be there in no time. Listen I gotta go before Director Douchebag notices I'm gone. I kind of took an unauthorized break from some bullshit he has me doing. Don't stand here like a weirdo for too long, otherwise people will think you're really fucking weird alright? Later."_

With that Alpha left her implants leaving Astrid alone with a highlighted map of the _Mother of Invention_ and the highlighted route to the mess hall. She followed the map and made her way into the mess hall, and while there was disconnect from the supposedly separated mess hall. Really it was only Team Alpha and their closest buddies that had claimed their own corner of it like it was high school or something.

A hush fell over the mess hall as Astrid made her way down the line getting her food and filling her tray. She may be able to shift to look more human but that did not change the fact that she was slightly more carnivorous than the average human because of her splice snow leopard genes.

When she turned around she kept the façade of nothing bothering her as she made her way to a secluded corner to eat in peace. And to be away from the others as they stared at her for a few more moments before going back to their idle chatter and meals. Feeling safe enough she removed her helmet so she could eat, while she ate she observed those around her so as to learn their patterns. When her gaze wandered to Team Alphas table she was greeted with some of them staring at her, probably because of her ears and tail. And others, Carolina and South, staring at her with contempt clear in their eyes and face.

Keeping herself calm Astrid just shoveled her food into her mouth and basically inhaled her food so she could get away from here as soon as possible. Right now, all she wanted to do was relax and process the sort of day she has had so she can start writing up her first report to her ONI handler. Although, that plan went down the crapper when half way through her dinner she is greeted by a way to cheerful voice.

"Well howdy newbie! You know you really shouldn't inhale your food like that, you might choke!"

Astrid looked up to see a sandy blonde with short hair and baby blue eyes in ODST looking armor hold his helmet. His armor was a true blue and his helmet was silver. He had the friendliest smile that she has seen today, but he was showing to much teeth for it to be friendly. She knew what kind of personality this guy had because one of her buddies in her squad acted exactly like this. But not wanting answer him she only nodded and slowed her food intake down.

"You don't feel like talking much right now do you?"

The smile never leaving him as she shook her head, no. Astrid did not feel like talking to anyone right now and this man was invading her space. She held back the growl that threatened to come out and took another bite of her food, or at least what the military says is food. Astrid's pretty sure most of it is a type of soylent…and she's pretty sure none of it is green. That did nothing to deter him as he sat down at her table across from her obstructing her view of Alpha Team. This guy was the type to kill you with kindness. Literally. Because he would get buddy buddy with you so that way you didn't see the knife in your back before it was too late.

"Well, I just came over to introduce myself. My designation is Agent Florida, but my names Butch, Butch Flowers. And you must be Alaska, rumor mill works fast around here, doubly so for us Freelancers."

She nodded sort of half paying attention.

"Well, I just wanted to come say hi and to welcome you to our little family! I didn't think that our new Agent Alaska would be such a young pretty face. You just look to precious, if there is something that you might need don't hesitate to ask."

"You're in my space. Move."

Florida's smile did not falter.

"I'm sorry about that, I'll get out of your hair now. Tootles!"

Then Florida got up and went back to his spot at Team Alpha's table and relayed his short experience with her to the others. Although, he may not have gotten exactly what he wanted considering the fact that Astrid knew someone with a personality similar to his. Not long into his departure from her table she finished her food, put her helmet back on and headed back to hers and Texas' room. After taking a shower to wash the sweat and grime off from the day and to change into her PJs, Astrid brushed her teeth and dropped her clothes in her hamper.

She climbed up to her bunk, pulled out her tablet and began taking notes about what had transpired today. There was so much to write about that before she knew it was almost midnight and she needed to get up in a few hours. Texas had already come in when it had been time for lights out and didn't bother Astrid as she made her notes.

Today had basically gone as expected but the hostility from some on the project's members was something she was not prepared for. Sure, a bit of healthy competition here or there was nice and to be expected, but the way they were all acting was not a good sign. With it only being her first day she had not seen everything, however, the Leaderboard was a bad sign. Sunshine talked about Leaderboards for his favorite online games but those were for leisure and pleasure. From the way Sunshine had spoken about them and seeing the competitive attitudes today only solidified Astrid's thoughts.

The Leaderboard had no use in a military project and just its very existence gave Astrid the feeling like things were going to come crashing down because of it.

Saving her work and powering down her tablet she stuffed it under her pillow and grabbed her stuffed dragon so she could go to sleep. But like the previous nights before, her dreams were anything but peaceful. Only this time they were memories from when she was younger in Project Chimera and the Hell on Earth that was.


	4. Chapter 4: A New Team

**Edit 5/9/2018:  
** **  
** **this is an update chapter 1, i had decided to update chapters 1-4 since i have a better grasp on the characters and where i want to take the story. so if you are a returning reader i want you guys to spot the difference, and if you are new i hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: A New Team**

The next day Captain Astrid Lumisade, now Agent Alaska for the sake of the mission, woke up at her usual time of 5:00 AM. A little early than what the actual wake-up time for Project Freelancer really was, 5:30AM. She used this time to finish up her notes from the previous day and gathered her things for her work out. Apparently, Project Freelancer did not have many designated times for training, which just seemed really inefficient, dressed in her PT clothes she started her morning workout. This consisted of 35 push-ups, and 35 crunches to get the blood flowing.

When this was done Alaska hopped in the shower to wash the thin layer of sweat off, brushed her teeth and hair, put on her armor. Her armor being an ODST Recon variant with puldrons white contrasting with her black under suit, her armor was designed to change with Lumisade's fur color to maximize stealth. With it being so close to winter her brown coat has been changing to its wintery white and grey.

As soon as her helmet was on notifications popped up on her light blue visor, some were just the obligatory welcome to Project Freelancer jargon. Alaska just skimmed through them and deleted them and left for the mess hall for breakfast, she hoped they had bacon and sausages. Probably not but a girl can hope that they might have the good stuff especially with her needing a huge intake of protein.

She did not get far when F.I.L.S.S decided that now was a good time to say something.

" _Will Agents Florida, Arizona, West Virginia, and Alaska please report to the Director immediately"_

"Ugghh, but I'm hungry!" groaned Astrid as she turned around and followed the map that Alpha had left her on helmet.

Her tailed lashed irritable behind her as she tried to make her way to where the Director was. Granted since it was early in the morning and she has not eaten yet and had her cup of coffee Alaska looked every bit of a tired, disgruntled child. Given her upbringing it is to be expected to happen from time to time. Nonetheless she heeded the call, even if the Director was being kind of a huge dick with doing this before she had a chance to eat.

There was one problem though that Astrid did not realize right away because of how tired she was at the moment. The Alpha only gave her the map for the mess hall as a one-time use before it was automatically deleted.

Which meant that Astrid had no map, which in turn also meant that she was hopelessly lost trying to find the Director.

She had been wandering around the halls for about 15 minutes before finally bumping into one of the purple armored agents.

"Oof."

Astrid just bumped into the chest of someone.

"Woah, you alright there? Hey, your Alaska, right? Aren't you supposed to be with the Director right now?"

His armor was a darker purple to the shorter one next to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. And yes, I am but I have no idea where he is and how to get there."

Astrid grumble irritably at the fact that no one had taken the time to show her around, aside from Alpha who had just popped into her implants and showed her the way to the mess hall.

"Oh shit, I forgot your new."

She glared up at the taller agent.

"No, shit Sherlock did you think I was wandering around like I wanted to?"

"No need to be rude," said North as he ignored the intensified glare Astrid gave him, she looked like an angry kitten to him. And the ears on her helmets and tail were not helping her image either, "why don't we show you then, he's already going to be pissed your late."

The smaller person next to him didn't seem to like that decision as they made their discontent known to North.

"Aw, come on North. I'm hungry just let her flounder and we can get food."

The slightly shorter one next to North said with irritation clear in her voice, North turned to her to reply.

"No, South I am going to do the nice thing and show her the way. You can go ahead without me if you want."

Then North motioned for Astrid to follow him so she did, it's not like she would say no to someone who had volunteered to show her the way. Even if his attitude was grating on her this early in the morning when she has had no food or coffee. Astrid just hoped that this was going to be over with soon so she could actually eat.

"So, your new here." North said trying to make some conversation. Unfortunately for him Lumisade was tired, hungry, and has not had her morning shot of coffee.

"Oh, gee it's almost like I had just shown up yesterday you are very smart good job."

Astrid sassed to the taller male.

"Well you will just fit right in then."

It was silent for a bit as they walked down the hall Lumisade's 4'9" figure dwarfed by Norths taller body.

"So, what did you do before this?"

"Frontlines. ODST squad."

The answer was short and clipped even though these Agents may seem nice and welcoming, well some Agents anyway, Lumisade did not want to get attached to them. It was not in the mission requirements to get attached and the mission always comes first.

"Why aren't you there then?"

It was a simple question but it was so hard. Lumisade stopped in her tracks. The sudden stop made North stop as well as he looked back at the smaller Agent in slight worry at her sudden stop.

"That's none of your business, just get me to the Director so I can be done with this bullshit."

"Well I'm just curious, because its not every day an ODST is taken off the front and placed in a project well after it already started. I mean wouldn't that just mess with the results?" asked North as he looked down at his smaller temporary companion.

Astrid didn't answer him and instead glared at him from under her helmet. North may not have been able to see her eyes but he knew full well that she was glaring at him.

"I don't know, I don't care. I got my orders and here I am. Now would you kindly shut up and take me to the Director so I can get this bullshit done and over with."

Not wanting to anger the small deadly person further who, by the waves coming off of her, looks like she will have no qualms of slitting his throat right there. So, North does the smart thing and shuts up as he leads her through the halls of the Mother of Invention to the Bridge. It was quiet and tense the rest of the way there and North was happy as can be and hastily left her to her fate.

As she entered the Bridge the others that been called were there already and of course the Director, who by the way as Alpha so kindly referred to him and Director Douchebag. The thought was almost enough to make a small smile appear on her lips but she squashed that urge like it was an ant beneath her boot. This was a serious and dangerous mission that she had been assigned failure was not an option.

This was not the time to be all fun and games, the Director was already sort of suspicious so she needed to keep her guard up. The slightest hint that she was vulnerable would more than likely be her last and he would take advantage of that brief show of weakness. Just like an opportunistic hunter, or a scavenger.

"It is nice of you to finally join us Agent Alaska." Drawled the Director as he glared at Astrid as she finally arrived.

The others did no such thing they just took it in stride and kept silent. Although Agent Florida did seem to have his perpetually sunny personality and had the kindness to wave at her. It was something that she had not put together last night when he had intruded on her dinner but the man was so similar to one of her old squad mates. Sure, she had put that together but it ran deeper than that, the face and hair was another similarity to her dead friend.

 _Well, isn't this just a basket of coincidences. First the person that has Her voice and now Agent Flowers who has Sunshine's face and personality. Fuck me, don't tell me that this guy is Sunshine's older brother. That's just what I needed right now._

Those were Astrid's thoughts as she answered the Director, although she was pretty sure he did not want a response from her. But, just for putting her through a morning with no food so far, she might as well give him a bit of shit. Not to mention she already didn't like him from how he had acted yesterday and well, since she was still tired her brain to mouth filter was still off. Needless to say, that is a bad thing considering her current objective and dealing with the head of the project.

Her mouth always did get her in trouble during Project Chimera as well so really nothing has changed much on that front. As for her mouth when she was an ODST, well her Captain always took care of things when he could.

"Well I would have been her sooner if someone had shown me around first before immediately taking me to the Training Room for evaluation. And then directly to my quarters with still no tour to show me where the basic necessities were. Which includes the mess hall by the way, but that's just me Director."

Honestly, she could have said that with a little less sass but hey YOLO, right? That's what some of the younger recruits and ODST's said before a drop at least. Her team was always partial to 'It's a good day to die', 'Feet First', and 'We'll meet up in hell' before launching their pods down to the battlefields below. It did not go well with the Director though given by the increased glare she received but otherwise nothing else.

"Be that as it may, Ah expect you to be punctual from now on is that clear?"

Astrid mumbled something under her breath that no one else caught.

"Ah said, is. That. Clear. Agent Alaska?" the Director repeated forcefully.

"Crystal." Growled Astrid.

"Good. Now on to what Ah had called you all here for, the four of you will be a team. Now while some of you will be called to assist other teams individually occasionally, the fact remains that you four are a team. Agent Florida will lead you, is this clear?"

"Yes sir." Replied both Arizona and West Virginia in unison.

"Abso-positively-lutely sir!"

"Sir."

The Director turned around and seemed to acknowledge their affirmation with a grunt.

"You are all dismissed then, you will have the month off from missions for the time being."

With that the four of them left the bridge leaving both the Counselor and the Director alone with the rest of the Bridge staff.

"Are you sure that is wise sir?" questioned the Counselor as he tried to process the Directors decisions on the matter.

"Elaborate what you mean Counselor."

"While the decision to make Agent Florida team leader is correct are you sure you want to have both Agents Arizona and West Virginia together? Aside from the fact that they both cannot play nice with others on their teams and have been known to get into fights with each other, I do not think that this team will get along well at all." The Counselor said as he tried to understand the Director's motives.

"You may think that Counselor, but ah do not trust Agent Alaska in the least. Ah think that the problem will take care of itself now."

The Counselor gave the Director a doubtful look and went back to looking at his datapad. Honestly, the Counselor did not care for the project but it was a job. Even if he has to deal with a self-centered man who cannot let go of the past and move on like a normal person. Bringing back someone who is dead was just a ludicrous fantasy that the Director was trying to make a reality.

After leaving the Bridge with their newly assigned team, Astrid mentally scoffed at that notion, no one could replace their dead family. No, they are simply a means to an end nothing more nothing less. Even if she wanted to get attached again she can't, because if she did and she was unable to convince the judges that they did so under the orders of a superior then her heart would be left even more shattered. No, get the job done and get out that is her mission and those are her orders.

Astrid had been so caught up in her own skull with her thoughts that she didn't even notice that she had followed her team to the mess hall. Breakfast was ending because there where hardly anyone in the mess hall and most of the food was gone from the stations. Astrid scowled underneath her helmet at the slim pickings. Looks like she would go virtually hungry this morning it seems, nothing can be done about that. It might as well be the amount of MREs that her old squad would have on hand when they would be on campaigns. But at least there will be coffee, hot with a dash of milk to cut the bitterness. With this in mind Astrid gathered her meager breakfast and headed to the coffee machine with her empty mug.

Only to find that it was out of coffee.

She stood there seething with rage, her tail twitching furiously to accentuate the anger that she was feeling in that moment. A low growl also started to build its way into her throat as she gripped the metal mug fiercely and little finger sized dents showed up on the mug.

The remaining personnel and her new teammates had gathered their meals with little complaint and decided to watch Lumisade as she went about getting hers. She didn't even seem to notice that she was being watched in the first place. The others just wanted to see what the newbie would do, would she complain, sulk? Butch on the other hand watched her to get a read on his newest subordinate since he did not get a good one the last time they met. Granted it had been after she had a full day of travel and immediately thrown into a placement match with three Freelancers that were on the Leaderboard. But the fact remained that she was still a virtual mystery to him.

However, having her on his team will let him get a better read on her now. Not to mention that nobody fucks around with his team and gets away with it. He had been witnessed to Arizona and West Virginia's fights before, and even witnessed an almost death of a teammate because of them. He would have to keep an eye on those two.

But back to watching Alaska get her breakfast, her body language had gone from hopeful to irritation in less than a second when she finally realized that they were in front of the mess hall. Hopeful probably came from thinking that there might have been something substantial left and irritation from that not being the case. However, the most interesting reaction he could observe was from the coffee machine. Like many others in Project Freelancer coffee was a staple to overall happiness of staff, personnel, scientists, and Agents. But unlike others on the ship if there was no coffee they would just huff in exasperation and get an inferior drink to what they really wanted.

With Alaska though, her reaction was, different to say the least. He had noticed that Arizona had taken the last of the coffee, and since it was the end of breakfast there would not be any more for a while. Unless someone were to get some from one of the Freelancer breakrooms that were specifically for Agents. But since Alaska literally arrived yesterday she would not know that. Alaska went ridged at the fact that there was no more coffee from the "Golden Fountain" as some had come to call the coffee machine in the mess hall. Apparently, the lack of food and the absence of coffee was too much for the cat because the next thing he sees is her tail lashing about angrily. And, oh, she's growling as well. Well, better stop this before something awful happens.

"Alaska hon, maybe you should come over here!"

That seemed to have snapped her out of her growing rage because the tail and growling stopped. She ended up filling her mug with orange juice instead and made her way over to the table that Florida had claimed for his team. She seemed to still be pissed about the coffee because she angrily slammed her tray on the table making the contents jostle about the tray and some juice to jump from the mug. Looking at the mug it looked like it had slight dents that looked like fingers. That's interesting.

"Eat up kiddos! After this we'll head to my rec room for some team introductions!"

Alaska only grunted before digging into her meager pickings from the leftovers of breakfast. Although, by the look on her face it was still prevalent that she was pissed about there being no coffee available. She seems to have accepted that fact grudgingly as she ate.

Arizona and West Virginia groaned and reluctantly dug into their meals while Alaska took off her helmet so she could eat. Her eyes seemed to burn with righteous fury at the fact that she had no coffee, but she kept silent as she ate and drank her juice.


	5. Chapter 5: Introductions and Revelations

**Chapter 5: Introductions and Revelations**

After breakfast Lumisade, Arizona, and West Virginia followed Florida to his rec room for team introductions. But Lumisade had a feeling that there was a second thought process to this in the fact that Florida wants to be in control of this situation. For that Lumisade can't fault him for that because A) he's their team leader and B) Lumisade had the feeling that he did not trust them. Well, her being the new person around made sense but the other two? The way he looked at them in the corner of eye all the time spoke of previous experience. And not the good kind.

Since Lumisade finally had a chance to eat and wake up she was able to get a good look at Arizona and West Virginia. Arizona seemed to have a sort of sunny disposition and a dry sense of humor judging from the jokes that he traded with West Virginia. He was a tan individual with a buzz cut and a scar over his left eye. His armor seemed to be a tan with light blue decals and seemed be a mix of the knock off Mjolnir armor that Project Freelancer seems to favor and ODST armor. Very weird.

West Virginia on the other hand was antagonistic. He kept trying to instigate something with Lumisade, stopping suddenly, trying to step on her tail as she walked in front of him after going around both of them after almost bumping into him multiple times. It was frustrating dealing with him. His armor was standard Mjolnir knockoff and black and purple. He was white as can be and looked like he hadn't seen the sun in a very long time with light brown hair.

But they finally made it to Florida's rec room and it was a sight.

Lumisade stood in the doorway with both Arizona and West Virginia behind her as Florida strode into his room.

Walking into Florida's rec room was interesting, to say the least. The walls were covered in inspirational posters and was painted in bright pastels and the floor was honest to God carpet. The soft fluffy kind which coincidentally catered to Lumisade's inner cat. In a corner was one of those electric garden planters that controlled the light for the plants and the pods sat in water. There were even some pillows lying around the room as well. There were even a large number of fluffy blankets stacked neatly on the shelves.

There were even book shelves with books like healthy eating and exercise, torture 101, what to do when camping, and so on. Hell, there were even some children's books thrown into the mix.

Holy hell, there was even a kitchenette it even had a mini fridge a mini oven and a microwave, not to mention the sink as well. There was even a small dinner table with chairs a little bit away from the kitchenette. It had a doily in the middle with a bowl of fake fruit by the smell of it. But besides the smell of plastic fruit there seemed to be a metallic smell coming from the fruit as well. There was something else to, it kind of smelled like explosives.

And was that a coffee machine next to the sink?

Yes, yes it was.

There were even bean bag chairs a T.V., some Jazzercise videos, an Xbox, Lumisade had no idea which one having never played one before she only played a PlayStation 500 with her old ODST team. But to make the space go from inviting to uncomfortable in less than a minute, there on the squat table in the middle of the circle of bean bag chairs was a cookie, a bottle of lotion, and a box of tissues.

"What. The. Fuck."

That was Lumisade as her eyes caught the weirdest thing in the room.

"Uhhh…Florida. What, uhh. What's with that?"

That was Arizona as he pointed to the cookie, lotion, and box of tissues, and right now Lumisade could not agree more.

Florida turned to where they were pointing.

"Oh, that. Don't worry about it." Florida said waving them off, "Come on in! Pick a seat, I'll grab my scented candles and get Alaska a cup of coffee. Cream or sugar hon?"

Lumisade perked up at the mention of the liquid gold that was the hot bean juice ignoring the questionable contents of the small table at the mention of coffee.

"Dash of cream."

With that he was rummaging around one of the cupboards gathering his candles and set the coffee maker to work. The three other teammates however, decided to just bite the bullet and sit in the bean bag chairs. Arizona and West Virginia sat on either side of Alaska and took off her helmet and set it on the table. When Florida came back with his candles and matches he sat between her and West Virginia as they took off their helmets as well.

You could hear the coffee maker in the background, its light trickle of black goodness just calling to Lumisade. The scent of fresh coffee wafted in the air as the four Agents settled down and Florida lit his candles. They weren't overpowering, in fact, they were a soft scent of vanilla and sage, they played surprisingly well with the scent of the coffee. It was actually relaxing to Lumisade.

For most of her life she has rarely felt safe. Project Chimera? Hah! That place was a literal hell on earth. Her ODST squad? Yes, she felt safe around them, but with them and around other soldiers. No. Battlefields? You must be brain dead if that is what you consider a safe environment.

But this? Florida was a sort of calming force to her frayed nerves, and Lumisade's muscles actually started to relax. The scent of the vanilla and sage candles reminds Lumisade of Her. Of Mom. The only person from Project Chimera who gave a shit about her and her siblings from the project. This did not escape Florida's notice though as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"Why don't we start off with names and our favorite food and we'll go in a circle." Said Florida as he lit his candles," I'll go first, I am Agent Florida but my name is Butch Flowers and my favorite food is your soul!"

He said it so cheerfully, it was unsettling. Arizona, West Virginia, and Lumisade just stared at him as he made them feel really uncomfortable.

"Just kidding! Its cookies." Said Florida as he picked up the lone cookie sitting by the bottle of lotion from the table and took a bite out of it.

That action itself left the three of them in a state of 'what the fuck'?

Arizona and West Virginia shared a look at Florida's antics. West Virginia looked like he wanted to start something, but stayed his hand. Although, by the look on his face it didn't look like it would stay peaceful for long.

Lumisade on the other hand just kept to herself, not wanting to get involved just yet.

The coffee machine dinged breaking them of the weirdness that was Florida at the moment.

"That's the coffee, be right back."

Florida left them as he went to heat up a small amount of milk and something else over the stove and proceeded to whip that into foam. Then he took a mug from his cupboards poured some coffee and then the foam into the mug. When he came back he handed the concoction to Lumisade, who gingerly took the mug and took a cautious first sip.

The bitterness of the coffee was cut with the foam which from the taste had a hint of vanilla. It was soothing and made Lumisade relax even more as she sighed in contentment.

"Agent West Virginia here, names Davis and I really don't want to be here with this Dickbag next to me." He said pointing with his thumb to Arizona who sat next to him.

Arizona glared at him and flipped him off. Florida on the other hand gave him a look that said he was not amused with the name calling. Sure name calling could be done in jest with comrades and friends, but the tone of voice that West Virginia had used meant that it was not done in fun.

"That is not what we say to teammates now say you're sorry, and you did not even say your favorite food."

"Steak."

"I did not hear an apology." Florida's voice hardened a little not wanting to let the name calling go.

"Sorry." West Virginia apologized reluctantly as he looked at Arizona, the apology had a hint of sincerity but not much.

Arizona only grunted not even caring. Florida however, gave a noncommittal sound but didn't sound convinced and let it go for now with the fact that West Virginia even attempted an apology was not lost on Florida. Then he turned to look at Arizona and prompted him to share his info with the rest of the group.

"Agent Arizona, fuck you West, and my names Connor and I like Skittles."

Florida would have accepted the answer if it were not for the insult to his teammate.

"Apologize to Davis."

Arizona glared at Florida.

"You're not my father or my mother so fuck off."

Everyone seemed to freeze at Arizona's response. It was like a blizzard had swept through room leaving even West Virginia who was antagonizing the other in shock.

The response took Lumisade off guard and she stopped sipping her beverage to stare at both Arizona and Florida to see what they would do. Florida's happy no care look took on a sharp quality, it was a look that Lumisade was very familiar with. It was the same look that mom would get when she witnessed her and her siblings being abused. That look meant that she was ready to punish the person that had hurt them.

But instead of doing something right now he just sat back in his bean bag chair. The smile on his face and his calm façade that Florida was exuding right now sent chills down Lumisade's spine.

Not wanting to deal with this tension any longer, and wanting to partially defrost the situation, she thought that she should go next.

"I'm Agent Alaska, but my names Astrid, and my favorite food is…" she trailed off as she thought about what her favorite food was. Given the fact that she has never really had anything other than military food and MREs made answering very hard.

But there was one time that she had something besides that. A long time ago.

" _Were gonna get in trouble! Danny!" whispered a little girl with long white hair, snow leopard ears and tail._

" _No were not. Besides mom told us to sneak in here. Mom took care of the cameras and guards for a little bit." An older boy whispered back, he was about five years older._

 _The older boy, Danny, had an African painted dogs tail and ears, and patches of fur across his body._

" _What if they realize what happened? Were gonna get in so much trouble."_

 _The whispered argument between to two young children had been going on for a little_ _while as they stealthily made their way down the barren halls of the facility_ _into one of the break rooms by their barracks._

 _Danny turned around and crouched in front of the little girl._

" _Don't worry it'll be fine Astrid."_ _Danny said trying to reassure the small child._

" _Well I don't like this."_ _said Astrid as she crossed her tiny arms to show her displeasure_ _to show her displeasure and puffed out her cheeks_ _._

 _Astrid was trying to look intimidating, and failing, to make her displeasure known. But, she only made herself look adorable._

 _Danny pushed the urge to coo at the adorable sight down._

" _Look, do you trust mom?"_

 _The little girl nodded._

" _What kind of question is that?"_

" _Then you have nothing to worry about. Now come on." Danny said as he opened the door to the break room._

 _Inside were four other children of varying ages and animal features between three and eight. On the table was a single cupcake with a single candle, something that the small child had only imagined of. She never thought she would see one in person. And there by the table was mom. She had joined the project as a guard a while back when she was two. Her first memory of her was her calming her down after a particularly bad experiment. She was the sole comforting adult in the facility. She had basically appointed herself as mom to all of them._

 _Astrid's focus was zeroed in on the lone cupcake on the table._

" _Is, is that for me?"_

 _Astrid asked in wonderment._

 _The blonde woman nodded and smiled her blue eyes sparkling with happiness. But you could tell that she was trying to be strong for them._

" _It is, why don't you come and sit down and we can sing."_

 _She did as the woman asked and sat in the chair behind the cupcake._

" _Now on three, quietly now, 1…2…3…"_

 _They sang Happy Birthday quietly so as not to draw attention to them to keep anyone from thinking that they were all out of bed out of curfew. Not to mention, none of them wanted to get mom in trouble, because they all knew what that meant._

" _Now blow out the candle after making a wish. And don't tell anyone about it otherwise it wont come true."_

 _The little girl thought about what she wanted, she wanted to be free. Free with her siblings and mom. She wanted to live with mom forever. And with her wish in mind she blew out the candle._

" _Happy Birthday Astrid." Said mom as she hugged the little girl._

 _The hug was warm and comforting. Something that the little girl hardly ever felt because mom couldn't spare the time to do it more often without looking suspicious._

" _I love you mom."_

" _I love you to sweetheart."_

 _Then mom kissed her on the cheek._

"Cupcakes. My favorite food is cupcakes."

Arizona and West Virginia weren't even paying attention to Astrid and the amount of time it had taken her to think of an answer, they didn't even care to be here. But Butch noticed, and he noticed that her eyes developed a glazed look as he thought of her answer. Almost as if she had been thinking of a memory.

It was quiet for a little bit, Astrid didn't want to talk anymore right now. So, she savored the coffee in her hands. The warmth of the drink felt like mom's hugs, her smiles, her everything. She didn't even notice that she was tearing up just by thinking of her mother. Arizona and West Virginia didn't give a flying fuck so they just up and left without saying bye to Florida. Leaving Florida alone with Astrid.

Florida didn't even try to stop them from leaving, he can get back at Arizona later. Right now, though, the last person on his team and his subordinate looked to be having an emotional episode. So, he stayed where he was.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The question brought Astrid out of her thoughts, and she wiped her tears away.

"Talk about what?"

Florida shrugged.

"I don't know, you seemed to be having a very emotional morning."

"Mmm."

They were quiet for a little longer Astrid keeping silent and deciding whether or not she did want to talk. Honestly, she wasn't even sure she should share anything with the man. However, it has only been a week since her squad, her second family, died in combat. But, since the man was probably the only sympathetic ear right now then if she kept her problems vague then it wouldn't matter.

"I was just thinking of the past. And of who you reminded me of when you were trying to get Arizona to apologize. Along with who you remind me of in general."

That was not what Florida was expecting.

"What do you mean?"

"When you were trying to get Arizona to apologize, I recognized that look you had. You looked like mom when she was pissed about someone hurting me or one of my siblings." Replied Astrid, "And in general? You remind me of Sunshine. But honestly I guess I just didn't want to admit it to myself, but you are his brother after all right?"

Florida couldn't believe his ears. His brother, he hadn't even mentioned him to anyone in Freelancer or otherwise.

"Who?"

He had to make sure she knew and was not trying to fish for information.

"Corporal Carl Flowers."

That was his brother, she said it with a hint of nostalgia and longing, she wasn't lying.

"How do you know my baby brother?"

Astrid was silent for a minute trying to piece together what to say. She never thought that she would be the one to break the news to someone. Honestly, she thought that his family had already been notified, but being on Project Freelancer probably didn't allow for people to keep in touch.

"He was in my squad."

"Was?"

That sounded as if his baby brother was,

"Dead , KIA."

Dead, his little brother was dead. Butch didn't know how to feel, he felt numb. Like someone had just drugged him He had joined the military so he could keep Carl from it. So, he could keep him safe.

"How did he die?"

Astrid was quiet not sure how she should respond to the clearly distraught brother. She would have thought he was already notified of his brother's demise, apparently she was wrong. Astrid could already feel her tears welling up, her throat constricting as the memories of how Carl "Sunshine" Flowers died.

"How. Did. He. Die?" the question came out more forceful this time.

The feeling became overwhelming and finally she could not hold it in any longer. The dam broke and her tears flowed free as snot began to drip down her nose.

"He- "Astrid's tears started to well up again, "he died protecting me. We were trying to protect what little civilians were left so they could evacuate but some Elites had broken our lines. I wasn't p-paying a-attention and only focused on getting them off planet, which I was s-successful. But I didn't notice the g-grenade o-on t-the g-ground b-by m-me. He p-p-pushed m-me out of the w-way an- and- "

Astrid was a blubbering mess by the end of recounting how his brother died snot and tears were pouring out of her. She hadn't cried since that day. It never truly sunk in and she never allowed herself to grieve. How could she when almost immediately after she was assigned a mission.

Florida didn't say anything and let the woman in front of him spill out her story of how his beloved baby brother died in the line of duty. The fact that she was like this clearly meant she cared for him, he was her squad mate sure, but from the looks of it he was like her own brother. He didn't say anything, just took the mug out her shaking hands and placed it on the table. Then he did something that he knew she needed in that moment. A hug.

"I-it s-should h-have b-been me!" wailed Astrid as she bawled into Florida's shoulder.

"Its ok, its going to be ok. It's not your fault, not your fault. Shhh… its ok just let it out."

He said that to comfort both himself and Astrid who by the looks of things was finally having the cry that she so desperately needed so she could start to heal..

He may not have liked not being informed but Astrid was not at fault for him not being notified. No. that responsibility belonged to the Director. He would have been the one to be notified and then told to notify Butch of a death in the family. and it was right then that Florida's trust in the man took a large blow.

* * *

 **EDIT 2/6/18: so i just thought of somethings that i felt would make this chapter flow a lot better. and honestly i like the changes i made, re-reading this again after i thought that it made the final cut, i realized that no it was not done. so i went in and added a few things, if you read the original version try to spot the changes. and i am actually going to see if i need to add a few things to the previous chapters to make them flow better before getting started on the next chapter.**

 **so my characters name has finally been revealed! i almost made myself cry while writing this chapter. i was originally going to split it up but i dont think that it would have had the same feeling as reading it all together.**

 **Lumisade- Instance of falling snow**

 **Astrid- Divine Beauty**

 **so i have been thinking and well, i have been debating that if i do end up pairing my character with someone who would it be? i was thinking either North because he is calm and caring and someone needs to care for Astrid. but then i was thinking of Wash because Astrid needs some fun, sunny attitude person as well. but then i was against North to because then he would try to dad Astrid and he's already basically a team dad...and thats where i'm at on that front.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Month of Recreation Pt 1

**so heres the next chapter guys!**

 **honestly i have no idea when the next one will be out because i have classes and life has been getting in the way lately but i will work on it when i can.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The Month of Recreation Part 1**

 **Early November**

 **Month Off**

 _ **Mother of Invention**_

 **Day 2: Alpha**

It was the early hours of the morning, but really it was around four. Everyone was asleep on the _Mother of Invention_ and the only personnel up to look after the ship being the two A.I. F.I.L.S.S. though was doing a lot more than the Alpha in terms of running the ship. The Dumb A.I. manned the background processes while Alpha was used more for calculations and the occasional query. This in turn left Alpha with a shit ton of free time on his holographic hands.

To keep his boredom at bay he decided to just go through files of the project just for the fuck of it. But what had always puzzled him was the fact that even though he was based off of the Director's brain, making him essentially a thought clone of the Director. The Director never had any trust in him, and given the fact that he was merely a piece of equipment, that still kind of stung, he was never allowed to use his full potential.

Not to mention that as Alpha was looking through files there was one batch that he could absolutely not access, no matter what he tried. And those were the Director's personal files. But he brushed it off as nothing, but the feeling of unease was still there.

Out of curiosity Alpha decided to check the time.

4:45 A.M.

Alpha debated logging off to get some "sleep" but he had already been awake for a while and its not like he has a body that needs it. But with it so close to five and judging by the time that Astrid woke up the day before, maybe he should give her a wake-up call.

Feeling devious Alpha followed the path that he had taken before and jumped into Astrid's implants once again. The feeling that washed over him again as he situated himself in her implants, it felt like home. A place where he was welcome, no preconceived notions, no one treating him like just a piece of equipment. But to be treated as a person.

The first time that he had jumped in her implants he thought that she would freak out or be in pain, as that was a real possibility. But, no, she felt content. Like she was whole. It was a weird feeling that he felt in his code.

But, Alpha figuratively shook his head and decided to focus on the here and now. However, as he situated himself he was thrust into one of her dreams, or rather, a nightmare.

The scenery looked to be a memory, there were other children around her age each either on the verge of tears, crying, or trying and failing to put on a brave face. Astrid however, was crying the cause being from what looked like a broken arm, an open compound fracture to be exact. _**What the fresh hell is this?! This! This is sick!**_ Thought the Alpha as the scene continued with the other children getting off a little better or worse than Astrid.

Alpha was so shocked at what he was seeing that he almost didn't catch the reason why the children were being hurt.

" _Do you all know why you are being punished?" asked the man in white, his face was blurred however, so Alpha could not get a good look._

 _Nobody answered, afraid that they would be beaten again for saying something. He's done this before, make the question sound like he wanted it answered but actually mean it to be a rhetorical question. However, that would not be the case as the man in the lab coat slapped a girl with a canine muzzle and paws, with grey fur running along her face and arms, a little older, than Astrid across the face._

" _Answer me your worthless pieces of shit!"_

 _It was Astrid to bravely answer, "B-because we were bad?" her young mind trying to piece together what she had done wrong now._

" _No! because one of your ingrates decided to die on the table!" screamed the man as he threw a mutilated body on the floor._

 _ **Ok, that's enough.**_ Thought Alpha as he decided to try and change the dream, it might not work but at least he can try. But before he could try anything the scene changed, and he was with Astrid in what looked like a cell room. Astrid was crying, sobbing more like it, her arm in a cast so obviously after that nightmarish scene that he had just witnessed.

 _Astrid was facing the wall that her bed was pushed against when she heard the door unlock and open. Her heart sped up as she thought that it was someone come to get her for more testing and experiments. But that thought was quickly dashed as she heard a soft tune coming from the person who carefully closed the door. It was soothing and calming, and the next thing that Astrid knew soft hands were running through her hair and rubbing her soft ears. She felt safe, this person meant love and safety._

Alpha could not place the soft tune that was being sung to the young Astrid, however, the voice sounded familiar to him and he began get a sort of twitch in his code…Alison… as he was trying to place where he knew it from. But would not matter now because Astrid was starting to wake up. The world around him began to tremble before melting away leaving Alpha in its wake as Astrid starts to brush off sleep.

The feeling of having ab A.I. in her implants wakes Astrid up faster as she stretches to wake up her muscles for the day.

"Alpha? What are you doing here?" asks Astrid quietly trying not to wake Texas up.

" _I, uhh... wanted to say hi. And maybe hang out for a bit. Its not like the Director will notice I'm not at my post for a while anyway." Said Alpha before muttering, "Not like he pays much attention to me anyway."_

"Well, thanks for the wake-up Alpha."

" _Your welcome."_

"Hey Alpha."

An idea had struck Astrid in that moment after hearing Alpha's muttered comment.

" _What?"_

A smirk grew upon Astrid's face as an idea popped into her head.

"How long before you thing the Director will notice that your gone?"

" _Uhhhh…I don't know. Why?"_

"Because I was thinking about you riding around with me until he notices."

" _I like the way you think! I tend to jump around a lot anyway and the fact that you have implants is in your file this could work."_

You could practically hear Alpha's smirk as he excitedly agreed to virtually fucking around with the Director. Lately the Director has been keeping him in the dark more than usual and it feels like the Director has been isolating him as well for some reason. Besides, this could be his chance to learn more about everything.

 **Day 4: Astrid**

The past few days had passed with little happening, mostly it was Astrid being an avid loner trying to feel out the people that she was surrounded with now. not to mention that with Alpha riding shotgun in her head made making observations a bit easier. And the fact that now she also had a partner in crime when she decided on a hail of pranks to descend on the unaware Freelancer Agents. Also, during this string of pranks Astrid was able to recruit a third member to aid them. Although, the third member thinks that he is the second because Alpha was still "missing". It's a bit sad that its been about three days since Alpha has been riding in her implants and the Director still has not noticed he's gone.

Oddly enough Texas seemed to notice that Alpha was hanging around her implants for the past few days but has not said a single word. Probably because she just wants to see where this goes and seemed to regard the pranks as a mother would seeing her child play pranks on others with amusement. However, even though playing pranks on the Freelancers Astrid avoided Florida.

Aside from chatting with Butch at meal times Astrid tended to avoid him right now. she was kind of embarrassed about the emotional breakdown that she had the other day and dumping the revelation of his brother being dead on him all at once. Granted Butch didn't seem to have minded the fact that she had essentially dropped a pretty big bomb on him, but then again, the way he handled the situation was almost exactly how Sunshine handled things like that. Except that Sunshine tended to deal with the immediate problem afterwards aggressively and almost immediately after comforting her.

Butch on the other hand, seemed to be more of a slow burner in that department because so far there has been no news of someone headed to the infirmary or of Agent gossip of someone messing with someone. Although, Butch has been making rather unsettling remarks to Arizona specifically. Probably the reason why Astrid has not pulled any pranks on him, because if Florida is anything like his brother then he would not like the fact of someone else punishing the person he wants to get back at.

It was another breakfast, this time only Astrid and Florida at their table, Arizona and West Virginia were at separate tables today. Florida seemed to have taken it upon himself the last few days and get her a mug of coffee while she is in line getting food. But, Astrid just brushes this off as him trying to give himself the self-appointed role of big brother. Normally she would fight tooth and nail that she could do things on her own, but she let him do it anyway. It reminded her of how Sunshine would act with her and the squad but also that he was probably trying to fill the void in his heart by having someone else to mother hen over.

However, before Astrid could get up from her spot with her empty tray Florida grabbed her wrist.

"Now hold on there Alaska, we may have the month off but that does not mean that we can ignore our training."

Astrid didn't say anything not wanting to say anything but also knowing that there was no way out of this and sighed. So, with that Butch and Astrid got up put their trays away and headed out, of course after Florida went to the tables that had Arizona and West Virginia respectively and dragged their asses along. Both of them being dragged by the back of their armor on their asses across the mess hall floor as they made their way out of the mess hall.

Apparently, Florida had reserved some training time for them, using the armor locking paint of course, to simulate a firefight with little cover but with multiple levels to jump from and hide. The ammo that they were using were training armor locking paint in case someone accidentally got hit. By and large the rounds were going very well, the platforms and cover moved with every round complete so as not to be the same every time.

Everything was going relatively well at first, until it wasn't. Florida was busy trying to keep Arizona in line, because consistently throughout the session Arizona would ignore Florida's orders, make irrelevant decisions, and generally try to make them fail the objective. While Florida was trying to keep Arizona in line left him with not time to pay enough attention to West Virginia.

West Virginia on the other hand had taken to firing in Astrid's direction almost hitting her a few times, trying to grab her tail, or almost running into her when he was trying to get to cover. In general, he decided to mess around with her as if she was his toy or something. But, there were times where Astrid would feel her fur and skin prickle from a feeling of being watched. Sure enough, consistently every time she would search for the person watching her, her eyes would land on West Virginia. It was an unsettling feeling to say the least and left her on edge.

Astrid was almost to one of the turrets blind spots when it happened. Astrid had been vaguely aware of West Virginia by her and twitched her tail in recognition. She was so focused on the mission at hand that she missed the feeling of an imminent threat. Just as she was going to take the disabling shot her tail was yanked.

Her tail being really sensitive hurt like a bitch when pulled because of all the nerves and delicate bones running through the appendage that she needed for balance. The yank that West gave was not a light one in the least and felt like her tail was on fire from the pain. The yowl of pain that Astrid gave sounded inhuman, it wasn't deep but it wasn't exactly high pitched either. The sound startled West Virginia and he slammed her head into the concrete out of reflex sending Astrid into unconsciousness.

 **Day 5: Astrid & Florida**

The next thing that Astrid knew she was waking up in the infirmary, with only one person by her side.

"Well look whose awake! Morning sleeping beauty!"

"Uggh... what the fuck hit me?"

"That would be West Virginia slamming your head into concrete."

Florida may have sounded chipper but Astrid read in between the lines. He was pissed. Astrid looked around the infirmary only to notice a black figure in the corner. Texas. Looking back at Florida though Astrid almost didn't want to ask but she did anyway.

"So, what, uh, what happened to West?"

"Oh, nothing yet but he will be where you are soon! Arizona got off easy this time though."

A shiver went down Astrid's spine.

"How long has Texas been here?"

"Hmmm…almost as long as me."

"Soooo…a while?"

"Yep!"

Texas left shortly after and before some medical staff came by to see how I was doing. In essence they had to look up how to treat a dislocated cat tail and told her that she should be good within a few days. Basically, telling Astrid to take it easy for a few days, and with that Florida immediately asked her to come by his rec room. Astrid may have agreed but she recognized that it was an order not a request. In that moment though Astrid noticed that Alpha was no longer there, maybe they were finally caught and he had to jump back to the ship. For some reason though she had a bad feeling growing in her gut about not having Alpha with her.

On her way to Florida's rec room however, Astrid ran into both York and North.

"Hey Alaska! Heard you were in the infirmary." Said North cheerfully, obviously trying to make conversation with her.

"Mmm."

"So, York and I were needing to talk to you about something. Do you think you have time to chat?"

"No."

"Well, do you think that you could come by our quarters then?"

Astrid should not have even considered the request, but so far from what she had seen of both of them is that they were friendly. North had helped her out when she was lost and from observing York he seemed to be well mannered. Not to mention that for the last few days they had made subtle questions and comments about wanting to talk to her. Plus, they seemed to be weary lately, like they were trying to figure out something without looking suspicious.

"Fine."

Without even waiting for an answer from the both of them she left for Florida's rec room.

"We could watch something, or play something."

When Astrid had walked into the rec room Florida was there making what looked to be a lot of food. There were snacks everywhere, hoe the hell did he get so many, what amounts to, a shit ton of contraband? Like the milk and vanilla extract was one thing those were small and easily missed, but basically a full crate of snacks? No, that should be impossible.

"Sure, do you have the recent Classic Edition of Skyrim? I haven't played that since before my last mission with my old squad." Asked Astrid as she gingerly sat in her beanbag chair making sure to be careful with her tail.

"Uhhh… let me see, if not then I can always download it. I just prefer physical copies, ya'know?" replied Butch as he got up to check his game collection.

Astrid snorted a little as she grabbed a bag of beef jerky, ahhhh… the good stuff, "Dude, your preaching to the choir."

They were silent a little longer with only Butch's rustling filling the air.

"Ah ha! Found it!"

Without much more ado Florida grabbed a controller and turned on the Xbox and inserted the disc. Its amazing that even after so long that there is still a viable market for physical copies of things. But even with technology advancing at a remarkable pace there is still a sizable market for physical copy products.

Before long the title screen showed up and Florida handed the controller to Astrid who took it, but gave it a slightly confused look.

Florida smiled a little, "Do you know how to play?"

"Yes, but my team only ever played it on a PlayStation."

"That's not surprising."

The beginning sequence began to play of the main character being pulled along in the cart with the other prisoners to Helgen.

"Why's it not surprising?" asked Astrid as she looked away from the screen to look at Florida.

"Well, Carl was always more of a PlayStation person so when it came to the infamous console war of Xbox vs PlayStation I decided to be a good older brother and take the opposite side."

"Heh, sounds about right. I vaguely remember him mentioning something like that when I first joined the squad."

They were silent for a bit longer as the opening sequence move to the character creation bit. Smirking at the options Astrid went with the race that she in all honestly resembled when not having to reconstruct her body and muscle structure so as not to garner more attention than usual. The khajiit. The character creation in itself can take a long time if someone wanted to get their character just right, but Astrid just like to do the bare minimum of customizing so it didn't take too long.

"I've been meaning to ask Florida."

"Mmm?"

"How'd you get so much contraband? Like little things I can understand but this much? Nah ah, there's a story there."

"It was in my contract!"

That was not what Astrid was expecting, but her attention was briefly stolen to the t.v. screen so she could control her character while dodging dragon fire from Alduin.

"In your contract?"

"Yes, apparently I was the only one to negotiate such a thing."

It just seemed like something that he would do alright, probably scared the bejeezus out of whoever interviewed him for a Freelancer position.

"So, what can you tell me about you doing here?"

That caught Astrid off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that your appearance here sent ripples of curiosity throughout the ship. And here gossip travels fast so really, its not to far fetched for others to start connecting the dots that something is happening."

"If you figured out that much already, I mean your not wrong. But, I can't just spill my entire reason for being here right now. to risky." Astrid said as she made her way through the cave underneath Helgen, "I am meeting with York and North tonight though. They have not given me a bad vibe yet, and well the one that looks like a road is kind of adorable."

"The one that looks like…. Bahahaha! Your talking about Washington?!" laughed Florida as he devolved into hysterics.

Astrid smiled, "Yeah."

"To be honest you two seemed to get along the past few days. But you said you were meeting with York and North?"

"Yup."

"Tonight."

"Yeppers."

"Then I'm coming with you."

Astrid paused her game, luckily, she had made to Riverwood.

"What do you mean you're coming with me?"

Florida looked her in the eye, his face no longer a light with his usual chipperness which now held a serious expression.

"Because you are my sister. You were friends with my brother and from the way that you talk about him it sounds like he was your brother as well."

Astrid looked down at her controller only for Florida's hand to place itself on hers. She looked up to see that his face had a soft and gentle smile.

"Carl made you a part of his family, that means that you are a part of mine and I do not leave family behind."

"Or forgotten." Finished Astrid as she genially smiled and tears of joy sprung in her eyes, "You guys stole that from Lilo and Stitch." Said Astrid as she placed the controller down and hugged Florida.

"You bet your soft fluffy tail we did."


	7. Chapter 7 The Month of Recreation part 2

**woooo! new chapter! hope you guys like the way it turned out!  
**

 **theres really nothing else to say**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: The Month of Recreation part 2**

 **Early November**

 _ **Mother of Invention**_

 **Month Off**

 **Day 7**

It has been about two days since Astrid had the small meeting with York and North, and well the self-invited Florida as well because he did not want his little sister to go alone. A smart idea, even though she is very much capable of taking care of herself. Its always good to have back up, but the meeting itself was a tad concerning. Scratch that, it was very concerning.

Astrid started thinking of what had transpired that night still as she was making more notes to put into her next report to her handler. The silence from Alpha was making her uneasy as she sat on her bed with her dragon plushie next to her. She has not heard a whisper of the excitable A.I. since she woke up without him in her implants a couple days ago. It was worrisome because even when he didn't have much else to do he would always come to say hi or stay in her implants so he didn't feel so alone.

 _It was 30 minutes after curfew when Astrid was about to leave her quarters and Agent Texas had yet to turn in for the night. Although, it was really just powering_ _considering that she was an A.I. shoved into a cybernetic body but right now it seems like Texas has yet to notice that. Astrid felt as if she has an obligation to tell her, but right now it would do more to hinder her current mission than to help it so she left well enough alone for now._

" _You going somewhere?" asked Texas as Astrid was about to leave._

 _Astrid of course was in her armor and helmet on but the remnants of brown speckled throughout her tail and armor were gone. Now the entire thing was white with grey accents._

" _Mm…I'm meeting with some others to discuss some things tonight."_

 _Tex looked up from cleaning her sidearm, "So who are you going to meet with?"_

" _North and York but Florida decided to invite himself as well, said something about not letting go alone."_

" _Didn't take you for the trusting type and endangering your mission like this."_

 _Astrid grit her teeth._

" _I'm not. I'm not even going to spill anything classified. But they both wanted to talk with me for some reason and it can only be about my sudden appearance in the Project. Florida even mentioned that the rumor mill here is fast as hell when it comes to this sort of shit." Looking away from Texas Astrid continued, "And, I was the one to inform him of something really personal that he should have been told of a while ago. Not to mention that it was York and North that requested this meeting, not me."_

 _Texas didn't say anything right away._

" _So how are you going to play this?"_

" _I'm going to answer anything that is general knowledge or at least a quick Google search. I don't trust any of them right now, except Florida."_

" _Sound plan. Why do you trust Florida though?"_

 _Not wanting to answer Tex and wanting to not spill the fact that Astrid knew Florida's little brother she growled in irritation._

" _Reasons."_

 _With that Astrid had left her room and silently made her way down the halls of the_ Mother of Invention _. Astrid quickly made her way down the halls of the ship. Years of espionage and sniper training gave her the skills to move and avoid the cameras, some were harder to avoid all together but she managed. When she and Florida were playing Florida had sent her the directions to York's quarters and after that she had sent the man a notification telling him when she would show up. This would give him enough time to prepare and let North know as well._

 _It was not long before Astrid made her way into York's quarters only to find an interesting sight. York was wearily shooting glances at Florida, North was more relaxed and trying to keep the situation calm. And Wash, who Astrid never thought would show up or be invited to this meeting. She thought it was only going to be her, Florida, York, and North._

 _Wash looked like he was sweating underneath his armor as he stared at Florida in shock and horror. Florida though, was in the corner sharpening one of his many knives that Astrid has no idea where he gets or puts them all._

" _Now Wash do you understand what I am saying?" asked Florida in a chipper tone as he continued to sharpen his combat knife._

 _Wash whimpered and nodded obviously upset and nervous at whatever the conversation was about._

" _Now say it back to me." Prompted Florida._

" _N-not d-do anyth-thing to hurt A-Alaska."_

" _Good boy!" crowed Florida as he sheathed his knife and patted Wash's shoulder._

" _Why didn't you stop that North?" asked York in an incredulous tone._

 _North shrugged, "Dude, I am not getting in the middle of an older brother thing, that's just not right."_

 _Closing the door Astrid walks in, "What's going on?"_

 _That seemed to snap the three of them out of it with Florida, she could tell that he was smiling underneath his helmet, turning to address her. However, Wash seemed to still be staring at Florida scared by whatever had taken place before Astrid entered._

" _Oh, nothing Kitten, just letting the boy know what will happen if he hurts you."_

 _This threw Astrid for a small loop but quickly dismissed it wanting to just get this whole cloak and dagger situation started already. Its been close to a week and she's pretty sure that they had gone this long with no new information or theories._

" _So, what did you want to meet me for that we couldn't talk about in the mess hall or something?" asked Astrid, even though she already had a very good idea on the why._

 _It was York that responded to her question._

" _So, we know that your new 'cause we saw your placement fight with Carolina, South, and Connecticut."_

 _Astrid nodded once, "Yes, I know. I saw you all gathered when I came up to the observation deck to grab my bag."_

" _Yes, well, to say the least people have started to gossip about how you're the new favorite because you pushed Carolina down a slot and how you just showed up out of the blue."_

" _That's to be expected."_

" _Sooooo…"_

" _So, what? You're the one that asked me to be here not the other way around."_

" _H-he," Wash clears his throat, "wants to know why your here." Squeaked Wash as his voice cracked a little as he wearily eyed Florida._

" _Ah, well I got my transfer notice and here I am. I would have much rather stayed on the frontlines than to be moved here and deal with a virtually non-existent Insurrection problem."_

 _That made the four of them pause._

" _What do you mean?" Florida asked calmly as his posture changed from relaxed to leaning forward a bit._

" _Don't you guys watch the news or the extranet? The Innies have been giving up and helping the UNSC since about five years into this God forsaken war."_

 _Astrid explained, a bit surprised that they didn't seem to have any knowledge about the outside world._

" _Wait what?" Wash asked in confusion._

" _Yeah, its common knowledge by now that even though Insurrectionists are still technically around they are not even so much as a threat to people because of the Covenants efforts to drive humanity into extinction."_

" _How have we not known about this?"_

 _Astrid shrugged, "Dunno, but my running guess is the Director."_

" _Why would you say that?" asked North._

" _Because, who else can you think of that controls the flow of information on this ship? Honestly, I'm surprised that the lot of you have been complacent in the lack of access to the extranet and getting mail."_

 _Florida seemed to be lost in his own head as he analyzed what Astrid had just said. The fact being that the Director had not informed him on his brother's demise was a gross oversight. But the fact that Astrid had just openly accused the Director of keeping them in the dark on purpose just didn't sit right with him about the man. Sure, his trust in him had been severely fractured because of not being informed of a death in his family, but this just sounded wrong on so many levels._

" _You have to be lying." Said York as he denied Astrid's blatant claim about the Director._

" _Then I don't know what to tell you then, because from what I have seen and experienced in the time I have been here that is just what I had observed."_

 _The four of them seemed to be lost in thought for a couple of minutes and Astrid checked the time on her helmet. It was a bit later than what she had anticipated and gave a low yawn so as not to be heard from the others._ Looks like I should wrap this up. Still gotta get some sleep if that will be possible tonight. _Thought Astrid as she contemplated leaving, she had given them enough to chew on for right now and if she went on now she would be Captain Loose Lips because of how tired she was._

" _Well, if that's all I think I will head back to get some sleep."_

" _Wait! There's still more we don't know." Said York as he made a move to stop her, only to be stopped by Florida._

" _Now York, were you going to lay a hand on my girl here? Because that was what it looked like, and my knife looks like it wants to cuddle with you." Florida said in a sing song voice as he grabbed York's outstretched hand._

" _Uhhh… no, no Florida that that's not what I was going to do at all." Said York as he tried to get away from Florida's grip._

" _Really? Then why do I hold your outstretched hand in my grip?"_

" _Ummm… uuuh…" stuttered York as he tried to find words as Florida started to grip his wrist even tighter, finally he caved, "I am sorry! It won't happen again!"_

" _Hmmm."_

 _Florida wasn't entirely sure but he let the mans hand go anyway and kept his gaze on him._

" _Well if that's it, then I'll see you guys tomorrow, I don't want to out passed curfew to long. Otherwise we'll be noticed."_

 _And Astrid left without saying another word and silently made her way back to her and Tex's quarters. When she came back Tex was already asleep as she got out of her armor and into her pj's to settle down for the night._

The next day Florida had let their team do whatever because of the late night that he and Astrid had and so Astrid used that to hang out with Washington a bit more. The man, who was actually just 19, had wanted to hang out because he had so much fun with the pranks that they had pulled together. But today had been a different story, Florida was particularly brutal in training today.

Probably because of the talk that they had about two nights before. But Astrid could not be sure, although it was nice to see West Virginia get his ass handed to him. Out of both Arizona and West Virginia Arizona was the least violent one that Astrid had to worry about. Sure, he ignored orders and was a general dick but he could not compete with West for being the most violent on the team.

Now West Virginia on the other hand was just this giant ball of unhappiness and dickery. When they were sparring in pairs today he had called dibs on her. He was giving her weird looks and tried to use his superior height and muscle mass to his advantage. However, given the fact that Astrid had to deal with opponents with superior size and height consistently throughout her life she handled him expertly. But, he would also try to grab her tail that was just starting to feel a bit better, even though it still throbbed in pain from time to time. He also started to make some off remarks about her as well.

Needless to say, that did not go over well with Florida as he had called for a switch in partners after their break. And by the looks of it he finally got the chance to teach the dick a lesson because the next thing that happened after they had gotten done with their quick break was a call for the medics made by Florida. Oh, Butch was not the one that needed them that honor belonged to West as his leg was bent the wrong way and his arm broken and he was doubled over.

Next thing Astrid knows the Councilor is walking by to talk to Florida, from what she could pick up with her superior hearing, not damaging Project assets on purpose. It sounded like he didn't even care about West as a person, now that was definitely getting put in her next report.

And that is where she is now, sitting on her bed typing up her observations of her first week in Project Freelancer. Needless to say, that she has a foreboding feeling about the entire Project if that hadn't been clear from the start when she had first stepped off the Pelican and onto the _Mother of Invention._

 **Day 10**

Something is wrong. There had been whispers lately and Astrid has not liked it. She would hear something and turn to whoever said it then they would snap around in fear. This has been going on since day three. At first it was nothing just idle gossip so Astrid ignored them for the most part because nothing they were saying was about anything to do with the project. But as the days went on Astrid noticed that more and more that she has been catching her name. well, not her name per say, but her Agent name. it has been getting a bit irritating to hear her name and snippets of things.

She growled in irritation and slammed her fork onto her tray in frustration. This made her squad mates jump in surprise at the sudden action. West winced at his sudden jolt because he was still healing, he may have been released from the infirmary but the doctors only allow him out for a specified time limit. This was so he could get some exercise for his still busted leg. Normally Astrid was the silent one and ignored the others at the table, and only vaguely paying attention to Florida. This in turn made Florida frown in worry at the sudden mood shift in Astrid.

"Everything alright Kitten?" asked Florida as he tried to figure out why the sudden shift in mood had occurred.

Astrid only answered by a small grunt, mornings were never the best for her and her team picked up on that really fast.

"Whatever it is its alright Kitten. Just calm down and think."

The big brother voice that was behind that was enough to get her to calm down enough to focus on what she was hearing. So far what she has been sorting has been more of the same, the new chick, the Director's new favorite. What's she doing here? Do you think that she could be a mole?

This needs to end and within the week would be preferable. With her tray and coffee finished she slammed her helmet back on and put her dirty dishes in the correct bins and left for her quarters.

She needed to plan.

When she made her way back Texas was still there and looked up to see who had entered their room. Because if it was someone that was not supposed to be there then she would have to teach the intruder a lesson. But, she was able to keep her wrath in check and keeping her from decking Astrid in the face as she prowled into her room.

"Now what's wrong? You've been pissy lately, well more than usual."

"Someone has been saying shit about me." Said Astrid as she began to pace.

Tex scoffed, "Yeah no shit, you just noticed?"

Astrid sighed, "No, but I ignored it because I didn't over hear anything about the project. But its been getting worse lately and now I need to find out who started this horse shit so I can give them some medicine."

"It's South and Carolina." Came the reply.

"What? What did I ever do to them?!" screeched Astrid as she tried to figure out who they were exactly.

Tex sassily tapped a finger on where her chin would be on her helmet.

"Hmmm… lets see. What did you do to them. Well, it could be the fact that they got their asses handed to them by you when you first arrived."

Astrid bowed her head and cradled it in her hands as she let out a sigh of frustration.

"You mean to tell me, that they are doing this because of the fucking Director?"

"Yes."

"Well, fuck. This doesn't change anything though they still need to pay."

"May I make a few suggestions?"

"Yeah, sure go ahead."

"I think I know how you can get under their skin real fast."

That intrigued Astrid.

"Go on." Astrid prompted.

"Well, Carolina for one does not like to be made a joke of so you can probably get away with a harmless prank for that one. She's not one to fly into a fit of rage, but she's the sort of person who needs to be embarrassed to get the point across. South, on the other hand you would need to do something more direct if the small prank war from last week was anything to go by. South though, you would need to poke the bear. Get her upset, have her raging. That's the best way to get under her skin and besides, her brother is about the only person who can give her a good scolding and reign her in. she won't listen to anyone else."

It was not long after the enlightening conversation Astrid had with Texas with a half-baked plan that she came up with on the fly she set out to search for Wash. It's a shame that he has to be the fall guy for one of her plans but since they knew him better he wouldn't get sent to the infirmary. Probably, maybe, and if he does then it wouldn't be for that long. But it will be worth it because if it was her then South would be gunning for her head as well and she will already have Carolina to deal with after this.

Astrid found Wash alone with Maine in their quarters giving him a back massage. Honestly, Astrid could use one of those right now, the stress of this assignment was getting to her a bit. Perhaps, she could get Florida to give her one. Not now though, no now was the time to try and put a stop to those rumors they have ran rampant long enough.

"Wash!"

The shout startled the younger soldier as he let out a startled yelp and jerked up. Maine just looked up at Astrid giving her a face that said that he was not happy with her.

"Astrid! Wh-what are y-you doing here!?" shouted Wash as he desperately tried to locate and put on his shirt to cover his bare chest.

Astrid almost lost her train of thought as she watched him cover his toned chest and abs. She almost started to drool in her helmet when she remembered why she was here in the first place. Wash may not like being a scape goat but it was a necessary evil for this situation.

"I need your help with something."

"Uhhh…okay. what do you need?"

"I need you to antagonize South Dakota."

"What?! Why?" screeched Wash as he scrambled to get away from Astrid and use Maine as a sort of human shield.

"Either she or Carolina have been spreading rumors about me and I want to get back at them both. Just be glad I'm not giving you Carolina."

Wash whimpered in fear as Maine growled in anger at the fact that I was basically telling his friend that he needed to get the snot beat out of him in my place.

"But, why me?"

"Because you are less likely to be killed for doing this or not end up in the infirmary for an extended period of time. Now come on."

Astrid said as she reached over and grabbed Wash by his shirt.

"Wait! I need to put my armor back on!"

Astrid huffed and let the younger soldier go so he could put his armor back on and it was not long before Astrid was walking Wash through what he was supposed to do.

"I still don't like this." Protested Wash.

Astrid looked at him in exasperation, "Would you rather take on Carolina?"

"I would rather not be doing this!"

"Well to bad, now repeat back what your role is."

Wash sighed in resignation, "I go up to South and I start comparing her to her brother and say that he is the better twin and that your awesome and better than her in every way."

"Goody goody gumdrops. Alright, lets get this show on the road."

"Wait, what are you doing to Carolina again?"

"I'm going to humiliate her in front of everyone and you and her team are going to be witness to it. But, that will be at a later date."

Wash sighed, he's been doing that a lot since Astrid had basically forced him into helping her in antagonizing two od the most volatile women in Project Freelancer. Although, if she was being honest with herself if she could have she would have wanted Wash to avoid doing any of this. That was not how it will be though, so, might as well get this over with.

Astrid shoved Wash into his team's relaxation room and made herself scarce so she would be well hidden and watch the show.

"H-hey," Wash clears his throat as he squeaks out, "South!"

"What is it runt?"

"I-I just want you to know that, uuuhh… you suck."

Whatever sound that the others in the room were making stopped. Conversations ceased, people became statues, North turned to Wash with surprise and worry. No one had expected their youngest teammate to make that statement, let alone to South of all people. Florida, who had been chatting about mindless things with Wyoming shut up and had this air of worry for the small soldier, who might as well still be a boy. But, he got a lid on that right fast and masked his feelings because it seems that Alaska has made her move in dealing with these unsavory rumors that he has been hearing around the ship. Florida, had also been contemplating if he should get involved and deal with it himself, but it seems that he does not have to.

"What did you say runt?" growled South as she started to stalk her way to Wash.

She looked like a predator, like Alaska when she got serious during training.

"Umm… uhhh… Y-you suck and N-North is better than y-you b-because you always l-look like your h-having lady p-problems. A-and th-that Alaska is b-better than you i-in e-every way!" Wash said as he squeaked and stuttered throughout that statement.

The temperature dropped as Wash started to shake in fear as South started to growl. She only said one word before Wash bolted out of there.

"Run."

Wash bolted before she finished and screamed as he ran from her, that prompted South to give chase to the younger Agent. In the end Wash had to be taken to the infirmary and South given a stern chat from her brother.

 **Day 12**

Wash had just gotten cleared of his two day stay in the infirmary and he was a little puzzled by what he found by his bed. It was a small handmade card and some of his favorite snacks. How did someone even know his favorite snacks was banana chips and there were several bags of the stuff. More to the point how did someone get this on to _The Mother of Invention_? This stuff was considered contraband, then he read the card.

In the inside of the card had neat print handwriting.

 _Sorry for putting you through that Wash, and I hope this small peace offering is okay._

 _I will let you hit me anywhere with armor locking paint if you want, along with the fact that Maine already gave me a punch in the gut._

 _That hurt like a bitch by the way, even though I know for a fact it was not at full strength._

 _But, I wanted to say that I would probably have been worse off than you if I was the one to do it._

 _Hope you feel better,_

 _Alaska_

 _P.S. hope that you liked the snacks, I thought you would like them because I always see you eating a banana during breakfast._

At the end of the note there was a small cartoon cat that held up a "I'm sorry" sign. Wash sighed as he gathered the card and the banana chips in his arms and left for his room. When he reached his room when he was greeted with a bear hug from Maine.

"Hey, its alright Big Guy. I'm fine."

"I didn't like Alaska putting you through that." Growled Maine as he started fussing over his friend and roommate.

Wash meanwhile, put the card and snacks in a safe place and sat on his bunk.

"Well, I didn't either but with all the rumors that had been going around about her I don't blame her for pulling this stunt and using me as a scapegoat."

Maine was silent as Wash continued to defend his new friend.

"Besides, she's going to be doing something to Carolina I believe. So, really she saved the worst of the two for herself."

Maine grunted, "I still don't approve."

Wash only sighed and let it go knowing that right now Maine would not agree to anything he says in Alaska's defense.

 **Day 13**

Wash had gotten out of the infirmary the day before and well, it was now or never to get back at Carolina. Astrid may be experienced in the field but that did not mean that she was inherently better than everyone, even if she came from a super soldier program. When she had been fighting Carolina in her placement rounds she had almost gotten the better of her multiple times. The fact that Astrid had more experience fighting opponents that were bigger and numerically larger than her helped her win but the fact remains that if it was just the two of them? The odds were that Carolina would have been more likely to win.

Astrid's hands could not stop shaking, she was nervous and her heart was pounding because after this even though she was already on Carolina's shit list this will definitely bring her towards the top of that list. She needed to get her adrenaline under control, think of this as another mission. She calmed down some but not by a lot.

Everything was set, the mess hall was flooded with personnel and Agents alike. It was dinnertime so everyone was there. Arizona and West were somewhere at different tables from Astrid and Florida which was nice because she didn't want to see the two assholes anymore than she has to. But, she was still keeping an eye on West for that shit he pulled during training about a week ago. The man was still giving her bad vibes, but none of that right now. right now, Astrid needs to focus on the prank that she had set up specifically for Carolina.

Astrid had commandeered somethings from Florida, who had been more than happy to assist her in the borderline suicidal endeavor. In fact, he had been more than happy to provide her with the necessary tools and materials for this prank. Not to mention that he had somehow got a recording of Carolina singing in the shower, and it was gold! Astrid has no idea how he was able to do it but she will not question it. Given how Florida was Sunshine's older brother it was to be expected. The set up was simple, there were motion sensors but they were calibrated to Carolina's specific walk pattern. The trap was set to go off when she reached the middle of the mess hall for maximum effectiveness and humiliation.

Carolina had just finished going through the food line and had just reached the middle of the mess hall and set off the trap. In an instant the confetti and glitter canons were set off and the recording of Carolina singing. Her horrible off-key singing.

 _I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me  
I still feel your touch in my dreams  
Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why  
Without you it's hard to survive_

 _'Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling  
And every time we kiss I swear I could fly  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last  
Need you by my side_

Carolina stopped dead in her tracks as she was covered in confetti and glitter and one of her most embarrassing secret was broadcasted to the entire mess hall. People were laughing and giggling at the big bad and her horrible singing. She went ridged and stalked her way to her teams table. She was pissed, but she will deal with it later but she had an idea at who had done this because Alaska was trying to keep a grin off of her face and her eyes glittered with inane glee.

 **Day 14**

It has been about 8 days since the meeting in York's quarters and the whole Carolina and South debacles the days previous. The five Agents hadn't met since because there was no point to it right now and the fact that Astrid had been busy plotting revenge on two of the most volatile Agents in the Project. Astrid still has not been able to get a chance in accessing the Projects files because it was to risky without knowing someone on the inside but also covering her tracks. Granted she could have done that within the first few days of her being here but even with her knowledge in hacking and covering her tracks it was a risky move to do. For right now though she would just wait and see if an opportunity arises for such a thing.

Today however, she was hanging around with Wash in his quarters, with Maine out on a mission it was easier to hang out with the younger soldier. Maine had not taken kindly to the fact that Astrid had basically put his friend and roommate at risk by poking Souths buttons. She had even apologized multiple times but the man was not having it and tried to keep her away from Wash as much as possible. Wash on the other hand, understood why she needed him and had even accepted her apology. Although, the jury was still out on whether or not he will shoot her with armor locking paint. It may not have hurt that she was able to get him more bags of banana chips either.

They weren't necessarily doing anything, in fact she was playing with the cat that he had managed to sneak on board from his last mission. Astrid didn't know how he was able to do it but he did and he was able to smuggle this cat on to a secret military science vessel. Although, she has a feeling that he will get caught and he will lose the cat but she figured that they might as well enjoy this as much as possible. She didn't want to bring down Wash's good mood so she didn't say anything and just enjoyed the sense of relaxation that came with the cat and Wash. Besides Wash being happy made him look adorable and Astrid wanted to see more of that.

Oddly enough Texas was the first to find out about the cat but Astrid only got the sense of mirth from her when she had found out. It reminded her of Mom when she found out that one of her siblings had basically been keeping a mouse that had made its way into the facility as a pet, this was just another small instance of a peek into Tex even if it was small. Astrid was really starting to get uncomfortable about all the small mannerisms that she had seen in her mother.

" _Would Agents Alaska, Texas, Carolina, South Dakota, and North Dakota please come to the briefing room."_ Said F.I.L.S.S. over the intercom.

"Fuck."

The one word held so much in just its utterance. It held Astrid's dread and worry at the fact that with the names listed it was going to be volatile.

Without any delay Astrid left Washington's quarters and made her way to the briefing room. The only thing that had been going on in her head when she heard her name with the others was an 'oh shit'. She had been wondering when this would happen and her sense of dread increased with every step she took to the briefing room. She had been not been witness to this before, she may have been placed on a team but that did not stop the Director from picking and choosing different Agents for certain missions.

"Now that everyone is here," said the Director, "We can go over your mission."

Astrid tried to pay as much attention as she could to the Director but the only thing that she can feel was the glare of Carolina. A shiver ran down her spine sending her into a state of worry on how this mission was going to go. Astrid can only hope that Carolina can put the mission first and not have personal matters cloud her judgement.

* * *

 **so theres the new chapter!  
**

 **also the song is Every Time We Touch by Cascada**


	8. Chapter 8: FUBAR

**Chapter 8: FUBAR**

It was supposed to be a simple in and out mission. Get in take out the cell leader and head back to _The Mother of Invention_ and that would have been that. Except nothing had gone to plan, nothing at all. Everything was a fucking disaster from the beginning and it led Astrid to consider that someone had to have ratted on them. The cell knew that they were coming and it only solidified to Astrid that something was very wrong with the project. But she can't think about that right now when she was being shot at and being hunkered down with North.

This was not supposed to happen, it was supposed to be a stealth mission. A simple in and out job, but nope life just had throw in a fuck you!

The mission had started out normal enough though and quickly went to Hell in a handbasket.

Apparently, Carolina didn't want her directly involved with the mission and had he play spotter for the purple sniper, even though this sort of mission was the kind that she had been trained for by Project Chimera. But, even though she was not being utilized to her fullest potential on this mission she still found ways to try and complete the mission given to her by ONI.

But there was nothing she could do about this situation other than follow Carolina's plan. It was not a bad plan but it relied too much on chance. There wasn't even any room for error because if someone is spotted its either try and fixit quick or everything will fall apart. Honestly, Astrid could have thought of a better plan than this but Carolina thought she knew best. And when Carolina thinks she knows best than she does not listen to anyone else's ideas.

That included Astrid looking at some of the computers that she had hacked to see what she was dealing with. Having a basic level of hacking was something that was taught during her time with Chimera and she has had more chances to improve upon that skill. Still it would have been nice to have an A.I. to help speed up the process and getting more info quicker. She missed Alpha, he would have been giving quips and keeping their spirits up while also doing his job.

"What are you doing?" asked North, who was wondering why Astrid was not adhering to the plan.

"Trying to see what else I can get from these computers, you never know what may come in handy with this mission, or future missions."

"That's not our mission though." Cajoled North.

"I know that, but still you never know what will come in handy."

North just huffed and situated himself in his vantage point.

"Whatever, I'm not going to vouch for you if Carolina finds out."

"Sure, sure. But she won't because I won't get caught."

North rolled his eyes at Astrid's response and went back to looking through his scope in their sniper's nest. They had successfully infiltrated the base and had found a great snipers nest for them to commandeer. The previous in habitants of the nest were no longer going to need it though so they let them have it. In reality Astrid snuck in and slit the throats of the guards and the occupants without alerting anyone. Thus, this gave the team some superiority over their little section of the compound that they were sneaking into.

"I know what our mission is, but I just want to see why we're here when I know I can do this on my own or with a smaller squad. Maybe even with one partner."

North gave Astrid a look and went back to keeping an eye on things with his scope.

"You've said that before."

"And I will say it again because it's true. Not to mention that we could have improved the plan a bit, because I don't like this one. It feels off to me, there was more that could have improved but Carolina didn't want to listen."

"It could have been the fact that you basically embarrassed her in front of the whole ship not to long ago." Replied North.

Astrid had the good graces to look sheepish, "You knew that was me huh?"

North just shot her a look, "Of course I knew it was you. I was not laughing about it after a chuckle after seeing the pleased look on your face."

Astrid's ears folded in shame, "I just wanted them to taste their own medicine because of the rumors they started."

"Be that as it may, that was not the right way to do it."

They fell into a silence after that as they continued to observe the goings on and the trackers of their other team members as they filled their objectives that Carolina laid out for everyone. In the mean-time Astrid was looking through their files and kept finding references to an employer of sorts. That in itself was odd considering that these were supposed to be Innies so why would they need an employer? Innies did not have employers, they weren't mercs so why did these guys have one? The whole thing stunk of something foul and Astrid did not like it one bit.

She was able to extract what she could before Carolina broke radio silence to let the others know that things were about to be taken to the next step of their current mission.

" _Is everyone in position?"_

Astrid dove to her spot next to North as she took out her binoculars.

" _Yes."_

" _Affirmative."_

"Yes Boss."

"Yessir."

The rest of the squad responded.

" _Good, is everyone synced?"_

"Carolina, we had synced before we split up to take care of our assignments." Responded Astrid.

" _Can we just get this over with already?"_ said South in frustration just wanting this mission to be over.

"I hope you have your motion trackers on this time South. We don't need a repeat of what happened the last time." Said North.

" _Of course, I have my fucking trackers on North. Do you think I'm an idiot?"_

There was an almost in audible click over the radio.

" _Did you just turn on your trackers?"_ asked Tex in an amused voice.

" _Shut the fuck up bitch."_ Snarled South.

" _Enough! Were all in position so mission is a go. We move on my signal is that clear?"_

" _Yessir."_

" _Fine."_

"Sure."

"Thought this would have started by now." muttered Astrid getting a bit frustrated at the lack of action on this mission, and the fact that she had to deal with this team of toxic individuals.

The fact that they hadn't started yet felt like a bad sign to her and she did not like it one bit. She's had this feeling before when she was still doing missions for Project Chimera. It normally came about when the people in charge of the project wanted to see how the subjects would react if there was a leak of information.

" _Shut up Alaska, I don't need your sass right now."_

"Yessir, sorry sir."

The Innies were gathering for something and it must have been big because it was a meeting of cell leaders and their lieutenants. Their mission was to take out the cell leaders and their lieutenants, sounded simple but it rarely ever was. Cell leaders generally don't like to interact with one another unless the one unifying leader tells them to. The Innies may have a common goal in mind but that didn't mean that they shared a common leader. Astrid knew though, that these were probably not real Innies, they were more than likely to be mercenaries wearing the guise of Innies. If the files Astrid had any indication of that.

Some of leaders and lieutenants towards the meeting room but it looked like not all of them were here yet. Astrid's and North's vantage point gave them perfect sight of the enemy's meeting as well as a great place to lay down covering fire if necessary. However, it still did not leave it any less true that not all of their targets were there yet. Things were about to get heated now that at least some of the leaders have started to arrive and head to the meeting area.

"North look alive, looks like we've got work to do soon."

"On it. I've got some of our targets in sight."

"Which one?" asked Astrid.

"The one closest to the back of the room, at the head of the table." Responded North.

"Ah, you mean Great White and…wait, what the fuck? Is that a shark mouth painted on the other one's helmet? Do you think he's his Lieutenant?"

"Yes, looks that way. Great White? Where'd you come up with that?"

"Yeah 'cause he looks like he's built like a house and, if my eyes are not deceiving me he has the correct coloration on his armor of a great white shark. The other one though…I think I will call him Sharkface." Declared Astrid.

"Why Sharkface though?"

"Look at his helmet North and tell me that does not look like a shark's face to you."

North adjusted his rifle a little before conceding Astrid's point.

"Yeah I see it now."

" _Will you two shut up so we can get this over with."_

"Now South that's not very nice."

"Not to mention that the others haven't arrived yet, so were kind of stuck like this until they get their meeting underway, and that this is in fact our job for this mission. Sitting around and watching, also to make sure that you don't screw up. I heard about what happened the last time you were on a stealth mission Ms. No Trackers." Taunted Astrid.

" _Oh, don't give me that bullshit North and shut up Alaska, you shouldn't even be there with him. My brothers a great shot, he doesn't need a fucking spotter."_

"South are you worried that I'm hitting on your brother? I mean he is kind of hot, but he's not really my type."

You could just hear the smirk in Astrid's voice as she taunted South with that comment.

North blushed under his helmet at the thought of Alaska hitting on him, sure she wasn't bad to look at but she just wasn't his type. Not to mention that he did not want to have a conversation about that with Florida. North shuddered slightly, that went unnoticed to Alaska, when he thought about the memory of Florida's Big Brother Talk with Wash not too long ago.

" _You bitch! When I get my hands on you I will punch you in the throat!"_

"Oh, feisty, that's kind of hot. Are you just as feisty in bed?"

Not wanting to hear anymore of this North tried to put a stop to this line of conversation. Not to mention that it was kind of embarrassing to hear this sort of thing about his sister.

"Hey, come on man that's my sister."

"What your worried about her?"

"Well, she is my sister…and I remember that talk that Florida gave Wash so I do not want to have that conversation with him."

"Ah, don't worry North, she's not my type. 'sides Wash is kind of adorable and your sister isn't my type either. I just wanted to mess with her, besides it'd just be awkward and I'd have feared for my life. But what do you mean about Florida's talk with Wash?"

Asked Astrid slightly confused by what he meant because apparently, she had missed something. Before North could answer her however, Tex decided to chime in.

" _Do I need to be passing out time outs?"_ asked Texas as she finally chimed into the conversation.

"No Mom, just some friendly banter over here." Sighed Astrid not even thinking that she had just called Texas mom over the radio.

Oddly enough no one commented on that fact and when Astrid realized what she had said she was glad no one said anything. Mostly because they all probably took it as a sort of sarcastic remark when in actuality Astrid did think of Tex as a mom. She was just so similar to her that it was tearing her up on the inside not knowing who or what she was.

The silence did not last long however as Texas' voice came over the radio.

" _Everybody things are going to be kicking off soon. I've got eyes on an incoming caravan, Alaska and North confirm."_

Both Astrid and North adjusted themselves so they could get a look at the front gate.

"Acknowledged Texas, incoming targets. Looks like things are going to be kicking off soon indeed." Responded Astrid.

"Also, it should be noted that the pair that greeted the other targets have moved, Great White and Sharkface. Probably to go meet the incoming caravan."

"Got'em, there by the gate. Probably waiting to greet the others and lead them back to the meeting."

The caravan of Warthogs came closer and closer and finally at the compounds main gate. The grunts taken as a security force fanned out as the other leaders and lieutenants greeted one another. With what looked like pleasantries exchanged they all started to head inward. The security detail behind them as they moved towards the conference room. The no longer needed security though bolstered the already tight security force of the compound, this was something that wasn't something to upset about because it was normal. But, given with the amount of personnel around the compound already was a little bit more concerning to Astrid.

Even though Astrid was confident before that she could have done this herself, she's not so sure now. the patrolling guards are easy to deal with but it's the alarms and traps that will get you. Even to get the sniper's nest without alerting people to their presence was a challenge because of the amount of camera's. not to mention the traps that will go off to someone that it was not into it as a friendly, they were scattered all over the place.

However, with the arrival of the final members for this meeting things were about to get interesting.

"Their moving Carolina."

" _Good. South, Texas is that trap ready yet?"_

" _Yep, timed explosives are set and hot. Should take all of them out at once."_

" _Good."_

Up until this point everything was going smoothly, to smoothly that it worried Astrid, because normally something would have gone wrong by now. Even if it was a small thing that could easily be avoided, but no everything had been going smoothly. Then disaster stuck in the form of a sneeze, and the fact that all of them have helmets on North could do nothing to prevent this. For whatever reason Astrid's nose twitched, she thought nothing of it because it does tend to twitch.

However, this was no normal twitch it was a pre-sneeze twitch. The kind that warns you of its impending arrival and Astrid was ready to stifle it but then the feeling went away. Astrid thought she was out of the woods, but that was not the case. Without even a warning this time the sneeze came back with a vengeance. It was a powerful and loud sneeze that made Astrid jerk violently and drop her binoculars. Everything was quiet afterwards and you could hear a pin drop as the binoculars clattered from the sniper's nest to the ground.

Everyone froze in shock, the radio was silent, the patrolling Innies froze, the new arrivals froze. Everything was still for what seemed like an eternity. Before anything else could be done however, the lieutenant that Astrid had nicknamed as Sharkface looked to see where the sound came from. And he stared right at North and Astrid. It was scary at how accurate and quickly he had pinpointed the direction of where the sneeze came from.

"Uhm…. guys, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but I think they're onto us." Said North.

" _Why do you say that? Is it because of Alaska's monumental sneeze?!"_

"Because the one I had called Sharkface is staring right at North and me. And the last time I checked that is so not good."

" _Gee I wonder why dumbass! That's because of your fucking sneeze!"_ shouted South as they heard gunfire in the background.

Before anyone could say anything else Sharkface pulled out a something that was connected to the tank in his back. The tank worried Astrid and for good reason because the next thing she and North knew they had a stream of fire aimed right to their faces. The others seemed to look up to where Sharkface was shooting and started firing his flamethrower as well and the leaders ordering others around them.

"Carolina, I hate to say this but we've been discovered and are pinned down!"

" _How did that happen?!"_

"Uhm…I sneezed."

" _You sneezed. HOW COULD YOU JEOPARDIZE THIS MISSION BECAUSE OF A SNEEZE!"_ screamed Carolina.

"It's not my fault I had to sneeze! I was prepared to stop it but then it went away. And then it came back suddenly! I couldn't stop it!" yelled Astrid as she returned fire.

The circle protecting the incoming leaders started to lead them to safety.

"But right now, our cover is blown and we need help!"

"She's right boss, now's not the time for this." Bless North's level headedness as he joined Astrid in returning fire and trying now to get hit.

" _Ugh... does anyone else have eyes on our targets? Since North and Alaska are unable to help right now."_

" _Yeah, I see them."_ Said South, " _It looks like their trying to get the incoming leaders to safety. The traps have been set and the I have the detonation device ready. But I have no idea if they're going to move them or not from the meeting room."_

" _Get out of there South and when your far enough way detonate the explosives. We can get the other later but get as many as you can right now."_ Ordered Carolina.

" _On it Boss."_ Replied South.

Not needing anymore words of encouragement South went to work. A few minutes later there was a big explosion where the meeting room was, along with the previous batch of leaders. All that was left of that building was a smoldering pile of scrap and fire, the shrapnel rocketed from the blast tore through the surrounding vehicles and enemies.

Sharkface stared in horror as in one fell swoop his leader and friend were gone with whoever was caught in the shrapnel and blast. The blast taking care of whatever leaders had been in the building. Growling and gritting his teeth he shouted his orders.

"Don't just stand there kill the intruders! Kill them all! No prisoners! Get that gate closed! We can't let then escape!"

No one argued because now he was the one in charge of all of them. With their leadership in shambles they listened to the last remaining chain of command member.

"Gah! Son of a bitch!" shouted Astrid a bullet somehow found a gap in her armor and pierced it.

Blood began to seep from the hole in her shoulder and quickly administered a cannister of Biofoam to staunch the bleeding. It would take a little bit for the Biofoam to take some effect but it was a little slow for Astrid's tastes right now.

"Alaska you alright?!" shouted North as he tried to check up on his teammate while trying to shoot down the Innies pinning them down.

"Mmmph, I've had worse before North. But its not great, although Biofoams being a little slow to react." Responded Astrid.

"Carolina Alaska's been shot and were still pinned down, we could use a little help over here!" shouted North as he fired off the assault rifle he had.

The man be a sniper but that does not mean he doesn't have back-ups. And while snipers only have one other secondary, that being their sidearm, given the way Freelancer was he always kept three guns with him. His shots missed some but others hit true, by the way bodies were dropping. Granted some of them were caused by Astrid as she bit through her pain.

"Ugh, I'm fine for now. now can someone figure out how to get us out of here!? For fucks sake! Were pinned down and I am pretty sure that we will have company in just a few seconds!"

" _Tex can you give both Alaska and North a hand?" asked Carolina as she kept busy with her own problem._

" _On it." Affirmed Texas as she started to make her way to both Astrid and North._

She had been on the other side of the compound when shit had gone to hell. But when South had met up with her she had taken it upon herself to start making her way to Alaska and North. Texas had been on her way to assist them anyway before Carolina told her to. Alaska was such a spit fire and had broken up the monotony of Project Freelancer when she arrived on _The Mother of Invention_. Plus, she was not afraid of her and she didn't mind for some reason. Normally Texas would have corrected that, but there was something about her that made her want to. It was something that she wanted to know why but it could have been that she was just a kid. A traumatized kid sure but a kid nonetheless.

"Carolina, we need to get out of here! Most are gone, but we've been exposed! We need to go!" shouted North as the door to their sniper's nest was busted open.

The intruders were able to get a few got a couple of shots off before being stopped. However, one of the lucky shots hit North in the shoulder. North yelled in pain and surprise.

Astrid was the first to react to the enemies that had made it to hers and Norths location. Not even thinking Astrid tossed a flash bang and shoved both North's and her heads down to avoid seeing the blinding flash. There was nothing that could be done about the sound however, which left Astrid and North with ringing ears.

But before her hearing could recover she used her ingrained instincts from years of missions and training to take out the targets. They fell like bricks screaming and grunting in pain from being shot at basically point-blank range. Astrid stumbled to her feet, the bullet wound causing her to wince in pain as she did so and clutched her shoulder.

The sudden move jostled the Biofoam and made the wound start bleeding some. It was more than before and the blood was flowing. She put her rifle away and took her sidearm and shot the downed enemies in the head.

But Astrid couldn't think about that at the moment because she needed to give North some Biofoam. She fumbled around a little bit from the disorientation the flashbang had cause before she was able to get a cannister out of her bag. She was able to administer the cannister before trying to pack her things up so they could move.

Her hearing was still a long way of returning to normal because of her acute hearing. But she knew enough of what to do to continue on and get her and North out of there. Their position had been compromised and they had to move now. North gathered their things and handed her stuff to her as he apparently tried to say something. But Astrid just pointed to her ears and shook her head, letting him know that she has yet to regain her hearing.

North nodded in understanding and directed her to follow him, just then Texas arrived.

"Sorry I couldn't get here in time; the traffic was murder." Said Texas.

"Not the time Tex, Alaska can't hear right now and she got shot." Stated North as he let Alaska lean on him.

"Well, I would have been here sooner if there weren't so many assholes around here. Seriously its like a fucking anthill."

North rolled his eyes as he tried to get Carolina on the radio, "Carolina, where should we meet?"

" _Meet me by their armory, its easily defendable and it's by the motor pool."_

"Roger that, see you then."

No one else responded to the order as they all got their asses in gear to meet up at the armory.

Because of her current compromised hearing she could not determine where the enemy would come from ahead of time. Thus, Astrid had to rely on her motion trackers. The three of them formed up and started to weave their way through the halls taking down all that came their way. Whether it was by bullet or by knife they all fell, even the occasional broken neck curtesy of Agent Texas. But the three of them left a trail of broken corpses in their wake as they made their way to the armory.

But as they were making their way through the compound Astrid was hit a second time. This time the bullet pierced her armor in her leg barely missing her femoral artery. Astrid screamed in pain as North took out the one that had shot her. North caught her as she was about to fall and threw and arm over her shoulder and started to help her along. Astrid on the other hand had put her gun away and put her other hand over the second bullet wound. She was trying to staunch the bleeding with her hands, that was not doing anything.

"Alaska!" shouted North, "Texas! Alaska was shot again! We need to stop for a second!"

"Fine! But hurry up!"

They stopped and Texas was keeping the stream of enemies coming at them at bay. North gently got Alaska to the ground and administered yet another Biofoam cannister. They were quickly running low on them from the already three bullet wounds between both North and Astrid.

"Got it! Let's go!"

North hauled Alaska up and let her use him as a crutch the rest of the way.

"North, are we almost there?"

"Yeah, almost there don't worry."

"I think I'm losing to much blood. I feel dizzy."

"Just hang in there Alaska."

Before long and after wading their way through dozens of enemies North, Astrid, and Texas were the last ones to meet up by the armory. There was one good thing about this current cluster fuck of a situation and that was the armory was virtually unguarded. Because of the Innies need to avenge the assassination of some of their leaders and most of the lieutenants they were all in disarray. And while the only one left was still trying to coordinate the rest, the panic and anger took hold over most of them and they became sloppy. Thus, leaving the armory unguarded and giving the Freelancers a makeshift base of operations so they can coordinate a way out of there.

"Your finally here, good. We can use these rockets to bust a hole in the gate and hijack a couple of Warthogs to get out of here. But for that to work we will also need to distract them and kill as many as we can along the way." Said Carolina as she gestured to the rocket launchers and box of grenades.

Turning to her team Carolina started to assign their tasks to get them out of there.

"Texas, you acquire our transport, South and North you're in charge of rockets and grenades, and Alaska and myself will be driving. Any questions? Good." not even waiting for answers to her question and walked off to get the necessary things ready.

Astrid however, had started to lean against North in pain from the bullet wounds. The blood loss becoming a problem and the Biofoam wearing off. North caught her before she could keel over from the gunshot wound to her shoulder and the leg. Luckily for Astrid her hearing was starting to come back as she vaguely heard Norths concern for her health.

"Woah! Alaska you need to sit down."

Texas had seen the state that Alaska was in and was worried, she has had this annoying feeling since she met the young woman. She has been nicer to her than to the others for some reason it felt right. That made the way Carolina didn't even bother to check up on their teammate even worse. She wanted a severely wounded member to drive and that was unacceptable. Texas glared at Carolina's back as she went over to continue to make their escape preparations. South, had obeyed immediately and went to get the rocket launchers and ammo secured and ready to go.

Texas huffed and walked over to where North had walked Alaska to sit down and try to administer some first aid.

"How she doing?" asked Texas.

"Not to good." Replied North, "The Biofoam that she had given herself didn't have time to set before she moved and only did half its job. Not to mention that she got shot again in the leg on the way here, looks like it barely missed her femoral artery. But it's still not in a good place in where it ended up, it might have grazed the bone. She also lost some blood on the way here, and I don't feel comfortable making her drive."

"Yeah, I don't like it either. I'm going to take over driving from her when were ready to leave though. I don't care about Carolina's orders, but I would rather not get killed by letting our injured team member drive."

"Good."

"Thanks guys." Came Astrid's weak reply.

"Guess your hearings coming back then, huh?" asked North.

"Yep, just a little bit. You guys still seem far away to me though." Whispered Astrid.

"That's better than not hearing me at all though." Said North as he tried to lighten the mood, even if a little bit.

But Texas stopped as she was about to leave to get their Warthogs and spun around to confirm what she had just heard.

"What do you mean about barely hearing us? She had been fighting fine before." her voice took on a tone of motherly concern lacing her voice that was all too familiar to Astrid.

Astrid grunted a little, "I had to throw a flash bang to distract the guys that found our nest, and because I have sensitive hearing for…well you know. My hearing had gotten even more fucked up than Norths."

Texas was about to say something before Carolina shouted at them to get going. Texas looked over at the aqua colored individual and glared. While it could not be seen, it sure was felt and turned to Astrid after flipping Carolina off behind her back.

"We'll talk about this when were done with this mission, and no excuses." Tex said.

Astrid could only nod in resignation as North continued to give her first aid and try to make her comfortable in the mean-time.

"She reminds me of a mother sometimes." Said North as he continued to patch Astrid up.

Astrid snorted, "Your telling me. The woman acts so much like my own mother I have to remind myself she's not there."

North looked up from what he was doing, "What do you mean?"

Astrid looked away, "I don't want to talk about it."

Recognizing her unwillingness to continue the subject he deemed her not about to pass out from blood loss. But she was dangerously close to it becoming a reality, so North went to go help his twin with the task that they were assigned. Outside the commotion became louder as the armory was surrounded. Shouts and gunfire could still be heard as the Innies were gaining some semblance of organization back.

Texas was able to find two Warthogs that were being fixed up in here. Strange place to do repairs in the armory but thank Christ for small mercies. Both were a little banged up but Tex was able to fix them in a timely manner and not a moment to soon because the Innies were starting to break their way inside.

North came over to Astrid and helped her to her feet and helped her to the passenger seat of one of the Warthogs. While Texas took the drivers seat and North stocking up on grenades and the rocket launcher. Carolina took the drivers seat of the other Warthog and South sitting beside her.

"Alright listen up!" shouted Carolina, making the others stop what they were doing and looked at her, "Were going to use the rocket launchers to punch a hole so we can go through. After that start tossing grenades like no one's business!"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright let's get out of here!" cried Carolina as she revved up her Warthog and South firing off a rocket, North doing the same.

"479er we need immediate evac! Were on our way to the rendezvous point!" Texas shouted into her radio.

" _I read ya. On my way now and following your signals."_

Both vehicles darted out of the armory like bats out of Hell and both North and South launching grenades into the crowds of Innies. They were almost to the gate and they had started to see the Innies get in their Warthogs as well and pursuing the Freelancers. North stopped firing the rocket launcher at the Innies to take the mounted machine gun and return fire to the pursuing Innies. South on the other hand was making a hole in the compound gate so that they could get out of there and make their way to 479er to return to _The Mother of Invention_. The mission was mostly a success, but they were unable to get the last one. A small price to pay but they needed to get out of there, and fast.

Things were going relatively smoothly for their escape, until it wasn't. One of the Innie Warthogs had been upgraded with an alien plasma gun, how they were able to get a hold of that was a mystery. Another both of those looked like it was modified to be EMP resistant, for some reason, but looking at the other Warthog it made sense. The Warthog next to it looked to be upgraded with an EMP gun, it seemed like a useless upgrade. But looks can be deceiving and that was something that the fleeing Freelancers were about to learn.

 _An EMP gun? What, is this guy an idiot?_ Thought North as he continued to shoot at the pursuing Warthogs. However, that thought was thrown out the window as the EMP Warthog got one shot off before it was stopped by its own weapon. Apparently, it had been next up to be upgraded but was not along with the Warthogs that Texas had commandeered from the Innies.

The Freelancer Warthogs were hit by the pulse and lost power immediately after being hit.

"Shit! Everyone hold on!" yelled Texas as she tried to save the dead weight that was the Warthog.

However, Texas was not able to save it and at the speeds that they were going she lost control of the Warthog. The three of them launched from the car as it veered off the road and crashed into a tree. Carolina even shouted her own expletives as she tried to do the same. But it was in vein as both Warthogs flipped sending the passengers flying.

Astrid was thrown into the side of the path and hit a tree knocking her out as she smashed into a tree, also breaking her left arm in an unnatural angle. North was sent to the ground, hitting his head on the ground. He also smashed his left arm on a rock in the ground, the weight of his body and the force that he was thrown at shattered it.

The force of his landing didn't do any good to his ribs either, and he felt like he might have cracked a few. But that was nothing compared to the pain that was like a wildfire raging through his left arm. Norths right leg was not doing so well either and was bent at a weird angle. Norths had also found it hard to breath as he tried to get himself up from the accident.

Texas was also not in a good position either, her faceplate was cracked because of the force she hit her head on the steering wheel. Her head hurt like hell and she was feeling a bit nauseous as well, and her right arm seemed to be broken as well. Her arm started sparking as well.

Carolina and South however, seemed to be doing a bit better than the rest of the team because the both of them were able to abandon ship in time. But that did not stop them from being shot with the plasma gun mounted on the one EMP resistant Innie Warthog. They screamed in agony as their armor was burned through with the multitude of plasma bolts. Some of the stray plasma bolts even hit North who was lying on the ground.

"NINER! WHERE ARE YOU WE NEED YOU NOW!" shouted Carolina as she started to make a stand against the wave of enemies headed towards them.

" _I'm here! Get in quick!"_ shouted 479er as their ride came down fast with its bay door open.

Texas wobbled to her feet and tried to keep her balance, her head was killing her but she ignored that and the pain from her head. She went to Alaska first and picked her up while South darted to her brother to carry him onto the Pelican. The Innies were gaining fast and the Freelancer team just barely got on their ride before it took off. The Innies had been firing at them the entire time they were trying to board the Pelican.

479er didn't even wait for people to be strapped in before punching it, there was no time to make sure of that. They needed to get out of there now and back to _The Mother of Invention_ so the team could get medical attention.

The whole team needed medical aid some more so than others but all of them had serious injuries. Carolina was finally able to catch her breath from the chase and look at her team. Miraculously all of them were able to get on the Pelican. But, looking at the state of her team, she did not like what she saw. North was not in the worst shape than the rest of them, Alaska was the one that was hurt the most. Having already lost a lot of blood and being shot twice, and then being launched from the Warthog.

Texas looked to have a concussion judging by the way she was currently acting. Carolina came to that conclusion by watching her trying to give some first aid to North and failing. She and South on the other hand would probably have to have skin grafts from the plasma burns but compared to the others they were not as injured.

The whole way back all Carolina thought of was the state of her team. In the past she had cared about them, but it was always preceded by doing the mission cleanly and perfectly so she could be at the top of the leaderboard. But this time, with this cluster fuck of a mission she just couldn't think of that. She abandoned the mission and not taking out the remaining leaders and lieutenants in favor of saving her team.

This time was no exception. The rage boiling under her skin let Carolina ignore the plasma burns just a bit as she thought over the events of the mission. The mission had been going just fine and they would have pulled it off flawlessly if it weren't for that newcomer. The bitch that had sent her down yet another slot on the Leaderboard. Alaska. Carolina ignored the others around her the rest of the way and only continued to glare at the unconscious form of the tailed soldier.


	9. Chapter 9: FUBAR Mission: Aftermath

**Chapter 9: FUBAR Mission Aftermath**

 _ **Mother of Invention**_

 **Infirmary**

 **Intensive Care Recovery**

 **Tex**

It was several days after that cluster fuck of a mission and the morale of the team was at an all time low. The whole team had been hurt in some capacity, Alaska being the worst. Alaska had been shot twice with both bullets not making any exit wounds and both of them tearing her up from the inside. The one in her shoulder had nicked bone and had left fragments behind, while the one in her leg barely missed her femoral artery. But that wasn't the end of the bad news, as it turned out the bullet had nicked her armor and shaved off some of the metal. This in turn cause the tiny pieces of metal to nick her femoral artery when the team of medics came to get everyone to the infirmary.

Alaska had already lost so much blood that having her femoral artery nicked was putting her at a definite risk of dying from blood loss. That wasn't even the end of her injuries, she had been knocked unconscious from being launched from the Warthog and slamming her head into a tree giving her a cracked skull. The last thing that Alaska was injured with was a broken arm from the same fall, coincidentally on the same side as the bullet wound to the shoulder.

North was not much better with his list of injuries being a broken arm, a gunshot wound to the shoulder, cracked ribs, and plasma burns. It was lucky of him not to have gotten a concussion or fractured skull from his head hitting the ground. It only took him a couple days before he was out of the infirmary with a well on its way to healing arm. Agent Texas was one of the lightly injured on the mission only receiving minor wounds, a mild concussion and a broken arm. The broken arm was easily fixed because it was a prosthetic to begin with so that just needed to be sent to the shop to be fixed up. Then she was in and out of the infirmary the next day.

South and Carolina on the other hand only had a couple plasma burns and like Texas were practically in and out of the infirmary. However, the same could not be said for Alaska. she had been unconscious for a while now and it was driving the people closest to her mad with worry. Texas was one of the first to visit her and she was the one to tell Florida what had happened on that cluster fuck of a mission.

Florida was upset when he had heard of Alaska's admittance to the infirmary but that had quickly gone from being upset to being distraught. To Florida this was to soon his brother had just died not to long ago and he had essentially adopted Alaska into his family within the same week. Alaska was the sister he never had and was already a member of the family because of his little brother. So, to have the safety of his remaining family hanging by a thread he was understandably concerned about the chances of Alaska pulling through. Not that Tex would know that anyway.

It was hard keeping his emotions in check enough to not go straight to Carolina and give her a taste of her own medicine. Needless to say, that he just didn't move from his spot next to Alaska very much after she got out of surgery.

And Wash? The younger Freelancer was normally seen with Florida in the Infirmary with Alaska. Both Wash and Alaska had basically been thick as thieves since they met and seeing Wash like that was a sad sight to see.

Texas on the other hand went to go confront Carolina as soon as she was out of the infirmary and her arm had been repaired. She had a bone to pick with that arrogant bitch that thought she was better than everyone else because she held number one on the Board the longest. Not to mention the fact that she was a sore loser at losing her top spot to both her and her second placement to Alaska. Those were her own problems and ones that Texas was content to leave alone if not for the fact that she had brought that shitty attitude on a mission. One that had very nearly caused them one or even two team members. They were professional soldiers and should act like it out in the field, Alaska had been the bigger person and kept personal matters where they belonged. Off of the field.

In that regard the small amount of respect that Texas had for Carolina was gone. But the other reason she was going to give Carolina a wake-up call was the fact that she had it out for Alaska since her arrival. Texas had been content with letting Alaska deal with her own problems and she had been and dealing with them well. But Carolina wanted to break her and didn't give a flying shit about Alaska being injured. She was worried about North and South but her and Alaska. They were left on their own for the most part because North, the caring person that he is, made sure as much as he could that they were ok.

"Carolina! You. Me. Training room. Now." ordered Tex as she spotted Carolina hanging around York in the mess hall.

"What did you say to me?" growled the red head.

"You heard me you bitch."

Carolina growled and made her way to Texas sizing her up.

"You're not the boss of me."

"Are you saying that you don't want to take this chance I'm giving you?"

Carolina glared, "Fine."

She shoved her shoulder into Texas and left to make her way to the Training Room. York had been trying to defuse the situation to an expected degree of failing. As he was ignored by two of the most aggressive female Freelancers of the project. Texas was doing this mostly just for a chance to take Carolina down a peg but to also beat her down for the treatment of Alaska. Tex had no idea where this idea came from but she's been feeling maternal to the younger Freelancer. It was odd because she didn't even know the girl until they met for the first time when she arrived here.

The feeling wasn't there before either, it was a recent development. One that had been building for a while but Texas thinks it started when Alaska had been subconsciously thinking of her as a parental figure. That line of thought gave some new meaning because of Alaska calling her mom on the mission, the others might have thought that it was done sarcastically. But Texas thought otherwise and thought it had something to do with the young Agents past.

Both Carolina and Texas made it to the Training Room with York trailing behind them. There wasn't a scheduled training session today so chances are both Carolina and Texas will be getting in trouble for this. But the both of them don't care at the moment because the both of them are intent on beating the shit out of each other. Well, more so Tex handing Carolina's ass to her.

"F.I.L.L.S run training protocol. Carolina and I have some problems to work out."

" _I am sorry Agent Texas but I cannot do that. The Director has canceled all training sessions for the time being. To do so would be a breach in protocol."_

"Just run the program F.I.L.L.S. were going to do this with or without the training protocol, Command Override acknowledge last directive." Growled the Cyan colored Freelancer.

" _Acknowledged. Running training protocol now, Agent York if you are not participating then please exit the arena."_ York looked uneasy for a little bit before giving a resigned sigh and headed up to the observation deck, _"Agent Texas vs Agent Carolina round begins in 5…4…2…1."_

As soon as F.I.L.L.S announced go the two grabbed their pugil sticks and charged towards each other in a flurry of movements. Both of them did not want to back down from this challenge. At first the both of them seemed to be evenly matched in block their opponents attacks before Tex found an opening and took it. She jabbed Carolina in the side and was able to get a combo off with her pugil sticks.

The resulting blows knocked Carolina down as F.I.L.L.S called the round over and started the next. As Carolina got up she tossed her pugil stick aside, Texas doing the same. Both of them square up and rush each other. Just like with the pugil sticks it was a flurry of blocks before the actual hits were able to make their marks. Carolina was the first to hit Texas this time but the black armored woman was not phased in the least by the red heads punches and kicks.

There fight didn't last long however because the next thing to happen was the Director barging in.

"What in the hell is going on?!"

Carolina and Texas do not stop and ignore the Director.

"Agents Carolina and Texas Ah order you to stop!"

That got their attention and obeyed the order, but they didn't look at him. They continued to stare at each other and you could just feel the tension between both of them. The tension was so thick that you could just cut it with a knife.

"Both of you look at me!"

Grudgingly both turned to the Director.

"Now Ah would like to know why mah orders of no further training sessions until further notice has been ignored."

"Carolina's stupid plan nearly got the team killed sir. Not to mention that in the field she didn't care for the lives of her men." Stated Texas.

"Be that as it may Agent Texas but reading the reports of the mission the mission had failed because of Agent Alaska's mistake. As for Agent Carolina not caring about her team, she was only putting the mission first. Now get out of the training room both of ya!"

Texas was seething with even more anger than what she had before. The Director was walking a fine line and so far, Texas wanted to put a bullet between his eyes. As they exited the training room York was waiting for them and left with Carolina. However, while Texas was boiling in rage the feeling of self-righteousness emanating from Carolina only add fuel to the fire. To Carolina, it felt like she finally beat Tex at something with the Director backing her decisions on the recent mission. She had felt bad about North getting injured, but Alaska? That bitch was the reason that she went down another space on the Board and she got what she deserved.

As Carolina walked away Tex threw a frustrated punch at the wall giving it a large dent in the process. Maybe she should visit Alaska to make sure she's ok. With the decision to go check on Alaska in mind she headed back to their shared room to pick something up. Some nights when Texas couldn't sleep she'd make sure that Alaska was sleeping alright. Alaska seemed to suffer from constant nightmares, some not being that bad. But others were downright bad to say the very least.

There were nights where Alaska would think that Tex was asleep already when she goes to bed, only Texas would lie awake until Alaska was already dreaming. She'd hear whimpers, and pieces of conversation, and sometimes screaming. Some would get so bad that Texas would either wake up from Alaska's screaming or Tex would wake Alaska to pull her from her nightmares.

On the rare occasion that it was not a nightmare but a dream she would hear one specific name. Mom. Those nights were the best because Alaska would actually smile in her sleep. She had even caught glimpses of the younger Freelancers personal effects sometimes, they were mostly the run of the mill things a soldier would have with them. Namely pictures. Even though most don't keep physical copies anymore you could still find soldiers with them. But the oddest thing, and the most zealously guarded, item that Alaska kept with her would be dragon plush.

Alaska slept with that thing every night and normally Texas would tease someone relentlessly for keeping something so childish on a military vessel. But, knowing the history of Project Chimera even she wouldn't be so cruel as to do that to someone who survived something like that. The way she looked at it and made sure no harm came to the stuffed dragon was all Tex needed to know that someone very close to Alaska had given that stuffed dragon to her.

After grabbing the plush toy and making sure that others did not see it as she made her way to the infirmary. When Tex entered the room, she saw that there was only one person keeping the injured Freelancer company. He looked up at the newcomer and acknowledged Texas' entrance.

"How is she?" asked Tex.

"Still the same. Docs say that she might slip into a coma at this rate." Replied Florida.

Tex got a good look at the mans face as she walked up to Alaska's bedside. His normally chipper face was sorrowful, his normally blue eyes sparkling with happiness were dull and void of any emotion. Florida looked like he hasn't slept in days, which considering when Alaska got out of surgery was a very real possibility.

Tex looked down for a second before bringing the dragon plush into view.

"I brought this for her. She sleeps with this every night and I figured that she would like it right now."

Florida looked at the plush then at Texas, he couldn't sense any malintent from the other Freelancer and took the plus and placed it with Alaska.

"has anyone else been by to check on her?" asked Texas.

"Yeah, Wash just left not to long ago and North came by to see if she had woken up yet but no one else."

"I got into a fight with Carolina."

At the mention of the other Freelancers name Florida stiffened and clenched his fists.

"Did you beat her black and blue?"

The iciness in Florida's voice just didn't belong. Sure, the man has had some ice in his voice for somethings but this was different. He wasn't playing, he wasn't trying to get you to let your guard down. This voice promised pain and a lot of it and very high probability of wanting to cause the death of the person it was intended for.

Texas scowled under her helmet and made her displeasure known to Florida.

"No, we were unfortunately interrupted by the Director."

"Tch."

Sensing that she should leave the man be she left the man alone in the infirmary. She needed some alone time herself right now as well.

 **Wash**

Washington was worried for his friend, has been since she had come back from her mission. At first, he had been happy that they had come back but that was before the rush passed him to the hangar. He had followed them to the hangar because the only reason why medics would be running so fast was because there would be injured. What he saw made him freeze where he stood as the medics swarmed around the five returning Freelancers. The medics seemed to be more interested in one Agent in particular aside from North, but the others seemed to be fine.

It wasn't until there was a break in the flurry of movement from the medics that Wash was able to see who the medics were swarming around. From Wash's vantage point, which in all honesty was not all that great in this situation, was the glimpse of white armor. There was only one other Freelancer that Wash knew of that had white armor and it wasn't Wyoming. Wash's blood ran cold when he realized just who the medics were swarming around.

"Get out of the way! We got injured coming through!" shouted the medics as they shoved Wash out of the way to make sure the stretchers got through.

Wash didn't know what to do he was still stunned by the state of the returning team, only North and Alaska needed the stretchers. The others didn't look to bad compared to them, but the fact that all of them got hurt in some aspect was worrying Wash something fierce. Hell, even Tex looked to be injured and that woman as far as anyone remembers since she showed up has not gotten hurt once.

A shiver rolled down his spine as he thought of what this meant when Florida found out about this. He wouldn't be able to go after him because he wasn't a part of the mission, but Florida will probably come after him for answers. He pivoted and headed towards the infirmary to see how the injured were doing but mostly he just wanted to check on Alaska and North.

"How are they? Are they ok?" asked Wash as he came across one of the medics.

"I am not obligated to tell you anything Agent Washington, now please get out of my way and out of this infirmary. We don't need you people getting in our way of the injured treatment." The doctor said irritably and shoved Wash out and locked the infirmary.

"Wash!"

The sudden yell of his name made Washington jump in fright.

"Yes, Florida?" Wash said uneasily as he was met with the site of the blue armored Freelancer.

The smile on the older Freelancer's face made Wash start to tremble, the Big Brother Talk still fresh in his mind.

"I hope you know what happened, because all I have been picking up is gossip about how the mission must have been fucked. Given the state with which I hear the entire time was in from what I heard."

"I-I don't know!"

"I hope your not lying to me Washington."

"No! I'm not lying! I tried asking one of the doctors but he shoved me out telling me to get out!"

Florida looked him up and down and searched his face to see if he was lying. Granted Wash still had his helmet on but Florida was like a human lie detector so even if Wash was sure he could lie, he did not want to. Satisfied with Wash's response he left the younger Freelancer alone in the hall. Wash did not want to know where he was going and instead headed to his room, he needed to be alone right now.

Hours later both North and Alaska were out of surgery and in recovery. After hearing this Wash bolted from his room and ran to the infirmary to see Alaska. not long after North awoke and was greeted to South by his bedside to see how he was doing, Alaska on the other hand remained asleep. That was normal Wash figured, she would probably wake up soon and she will be ok. Florida had come in not long after Wash's arrival and also pulled up a chair next to Alaska.

Hours turned into a day and days turned into a week with no sign of Alaska waking up anytime soon. North had already been cleared for leaving the infirmary and spared a look at Alaska's still form. He put his hand on Wash's shoulder as a gesture of reassurance before leaving the infirmary with his Sister.

Washington did not acknowledge North as he left and instead focused entirely on Alaska. Honestly, North and Tex were the only two from that mission that Wash would even go near if he could avoid it. It was hard to do though, when you are a part of the same team as the other Leaderboarders and Carolina, obsessed as she was. Demanded her team train if they could, it had gotten to the point where the Director actually stepped in and postponed all training sessions to everyone's confusion and other relief.

 **Florida**

"Florida mate, you know you can get some rest, right?" asked a voice behind the blue armored man sitting by Alaska's unconscious form.

Florida didn't say anything.

"Come on old chap, why don't you go get something to eat?" said the voice again as he tried to get the other man to move.

"I can't Reggie." Came Florida's raspy voice.

He had been sitting here next to Astrid since she was out of surgery with no intention of leaving her side. He had not moved much, only to do necessary things like eat and go to the bathroom. But even then, both were few and far in between as he didn't want to leave his little sisters side for fear of not being there for her if, when he had to remind himself it was when, she wakes up. With her still unconscious days after the incident and surgery, the medical staff was worried that she might slip into a coma at this point.

And that thought terrified Butch. Especially with the way the Director is, it was entirely possible that he would just pull the plug on her if that happened. And if that happens then Florida will lose it and not even Reggie will be able to pull him out of it. He has already lost so much and he will not let God take this from him as well.

"I know she's family to you Butch, but you need to take care of yourself as well." Said Reggie as he pulled up a chair next to Florida, "Besides, what will she say if you are not taking care of yourself?"

Florida didn't say anything right away but before he could say something the door to the recovery room opened. Both Florida and Reggie turned to see who had walked in, Florida had hoped that it wasn't Carolina. When Florida had heard about the teams return he had been excited about Alaska's return and was hoping to relax with both her and Reggie playing games for the rest of the evening. After her debriefing that is, can't go against protocol now can we. But that thought was thrown out the window as soon as he heard about the mission status and the status of the team coming back.

When Florida had seen the state that Alaska was in his heart nearly stopped and his blood ran cold. He had nearly gone after the Director in a fit of rage because he was pretty fucking sure that he was the reason that his little sister was barely alive. But he was able to hold himself back, with the help of Reggie, he didn't want the bastard to know that he didn't trust him nor the project anymore. Not yet at least.

"Is she awake yet?" came the timid voice of Wash as he made his way to Alaska's bedside.

"No, no Wash. She's not." Florida said in a somber voice.

Wash had sat almost as long as Florida at Alaska's bedside even refusing to eat or sleep a few times. However, in a few rare cases of Florida using his Big Brother Powers, as Carl liked to put it, on Wash to get him to take care of himself. It was strange to do that to someone who Butch didn't consider family.

"Oh. I-I just thought that, it's been almost two weeks. And the next big mission is soon, and I'm worried about her."

"I know Wash, I know. Me to."

They were quite for a little bit not wanting to say anything else before a noise snapped them out of their silence.

"Ugh, the fuck?"

"Laska!" yelled Florida as he stood up suddenly.

"Alaska! your ok!" yelled Wash as he hugged his injured friend.

"Ugh, Wash. Get off, your hurting me."

In an instant Wash was off of Alaska, "I'm so sorry!"

Alaska smiled softly, "S'okay Wash you didn't mean it." Turning to Florida, "Hey Big Bro, how are you?"

"Haha, you've been unconscious for almost two weeks and the first thing you ask me is how I've been?"

"Damn, has it really been that long?"

"Yeah, you had us all worried."

"Sorry. Really tired."

Florida smiled, "Get some rest Kitten, great to see you alright though."

"Kay."

Alaska closed her eyes again and went back to sleep. Florida breathed a sigh of relief that his sister was going to ok. The next thing that he did was get the medical staff. They were none to happy that they had not gotten them as soon as Alaska was conscious. But after their initial complaining they said that she would be able to leave as soon as her leg heals up. Although she would not be able to train or go into the field until her arm heals up. When the staff left, more than likely to inform the Director of the status on Alaska, Wash left with Reggie and Florida.

"Hey, Florida."

"Yes Wash?"

"What, what happened on that mission? I keep asking people and they won't answer me. South said she would rip my face off, North just didn't say anything, Tex was just silent. And Carolina? Well I didn't feel comfortable asking her."

Florida stopped in the middle of the hall.

"Yeah, I'll tell you Wash. Wyoming, Wash you can follow me to my Rec Room."

The normally chipper man was somber the past two weeks it was unsettling to say the least and downright creepy to the other Freelancers. It was like his life and passion had been put out and the only place you could find him was the infirmary, he was even more short tempered and vindictive as well while Alaska was in the infirmary. The times where he actually did leave the infirmary to get some food from the mess hall the chipper looks that he gave Carolina and the rest of that team, except Tex she had been just as worried about Alaska as Wash, were looks that promised pain.

They had made sure to stay out of his way, North however was able to avoid Florida's ire because when Butch finally found out what happened had been from North. That had given North points but what actually saved him was the fact that North had cared and protected Alaska on that mission as best he could.

The two other Freelancers followed Florida to his private space, which he would normally keep everyone but his most trusted friends away from. Florida though, knew that he could trust Wash even though he still had little to no doubts in the project even after their meeting with Alaska. But, Wash was a good boy he cares about Alaska more than they both acknowledge right now. But Florida can see the signs even now and he knows that Alaska has chosen the right one. Besides he knows he can trust Wyoming implicitly because he's the knock knock joke loving Freelancers boyfriend.

They were quite as they walked through the halls of the ship, the others off doing their own things and the security detail of the ship just patrolling the halls. They don't really need to do that but the Director has them doing so anyway. They never made it to Florida's Rec Room because F.I.L.L.S. came on over the intercom with a summons.

" _Would Agents York, Carolina, Washington, Florida, Maine, Connecticut, Wyoming, and North Dakota please report to the Director immediately."_

"Well, that can't be good." Stated Wash as the three of them changed directions and headed to the Director to see what he wanted.

Florida didn't say anything but narrowed his eyes he had a feeling as to what this would be about but he had thought it would be another week before this mission was supposed to be done. Oh well, nothing he could do about it right now anyway no matter how much he disliked that.

"Now that were all here, this mission is of the utmost importance." Said the director as he looked at the assembled Freelancers before him.

"Since the mission that we gathered this from did not keep within the guidelines of stealth they know were coming." Said Carolina as she brought up the map of the objective, "Our mission is to get the Sarcophagus and get out, fast."

"The Sarcophagus?" asked North.

"That's what were calling it. They know were coming and they are going to be transporting it, so we will need to get the codes from a high up official who will have it on him. So once the Sarcophagus is secure we will get the codes, everyone gets that?"

A plethora of "Yes sir." Sounded from the group except Florida and Texas who just stayed silent. Butch was contemplating trying whether he should create an accident for Carolina on this mission or not as he boarded the Pelican. Texas grabbed his shoulder, he looked at her as she shook her head.

"Don't do anything right now Florida, it would jeopardize the mission. Do something after this if you can." Said Tex over a private channel with him.

Butch could see what Texas was saying and he had to begrudgingly agree with her that it was best to wait. Without saying anything he boarded the Pelican and strapped himself in.

* * *

 **this chapter was mostly to take the focus off of Astrid for a bit to focus on the other characters a little more to flesh out their relationship with Astrid as well.**

 **hope you guys enjoy this and please leave feedback if you can, i love to hear your guys' opinions!**

 **also one more thing, i am not going to be writing ch 10 just yet. since i have a better grasp on who my characters are and what i am doing i am going to be going back to my earlier chapters, more than likely ch 1-4, and revamp them. you know, like, adding or subtracting things that are not necessary anymore or adding some minor things to make things flow better. you know that stuff.**

 **oh! one more thing before you guys go, i also post this on Ao3 and you can find me there under BlueTeamChurch**


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